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Boofe/ii-a_4. 




JXK. 3^U C/fo^^jjesi 



Fifty-Five Years of Active 
Ministerial Life by 

BISHOP D. K. FLICKINGER, D.D. 



For Forty Years a Laborer in the Mission Work 

of West Africa, as Missionary, Missionary 

Secretary, and Later as Missionary 

Bishop 



2UMit|) a preface bp 
Bishop <g, $$♦ 99atl>etD0, 2XD* 




Nineteen Hundred and Seven 

United Brethren Publishing House 

Dayton, Ohio 






1 LIBRARY ofOONaR'Ssj 
Two Cople* Receive 
JAN30 1908 

Copyrigfti tmty 

0U3» XXc. Nu. 



copy a. 



All Hights Reserved, 1907 
W. R. FuaK, Publisher 



Received from 
roovright Office. 

27 F '08 



To tire ^tXemtm-snip of ttrs ©lrutrc|) of ttr^ United. ^Brrtnrrn in ©frrist 

anti to all tlrosB mno fraus zxalteo tfrs (Sospzl of gzsns ©frrist 

as t\[t tjighxst railing; but Esprriallg to tfros* ioIto, 

olxeoient to tnz Master's rail, baus gonr into 

mxssixm ftelos is ttris oolnmc rrsn^rtfnllg 

xteoicateo og tns antnor 



PREFACE 



The influence and far-reaching results of over a half century 
of ministerial life and service are beyond human computation. 
A ministerial career spanning the last half of the preceding 
century, so wonderful, as it was, in its events, growth, and 
achievements, must necessarily command special attention. By 
reason of his faithful service, fruitful activity, great sacrifices, 
and generous contributions to the Church, the author of "Fifty- 
five Years of Ministerial Life" has been qualified to present to 
the public a volume full of information and interest. 

The life of Ex-Bishop Flickinger parallels . the entire history 
of the missionary operations of the United Brethren Church in 
the foreign field. He was one of the three who planted our 
first mission on the West Coast of Africa, with which he was 
associated about fifty years. Dr. Flickinger possibly stands 
without a peer in many points of consecration to the African 
mission. Like St. Paul, it burdened his heart as a debt he 
owed to the Greeks and barbarians; hence he threw all the 
energies of his being into the missionary enterprise, in the 
midst of the embarrassing and trying period of its early strug- 
gles. 

With graphic description, interspersed with enlivening humor 
and spicy anecdote, the author recounts the early experiences 
of the Missionary Society, its fortunes during the Civil War, 
and the difficulty of maintaining and prosecuting missionary 
work during the succeeding period of financial depression. The 
reader will be glad to follow one who crossed the ocean twenty- 
four times, and who figured in the forefront of our home and 
foreign missionary work for half a century. 

The modesty with which the author refers to his own labors 
and gifts to the colleges and other institutions of the Church, 
gives merit to this book, which enriches the biographical liter- 
ature of the denomination. 

G. M. Mathews. 

Chicago, Illinois. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 
1850-51 — First Circuit — Local Preachers — Surprised the Quar- 
terly Conference 17 

CHAPTER II. 

1851-52 — Education — Changing the Hour for Service — Whisky in 

the Harvest Field — Camp-Meeting 22 

CHAPTER III. 

1852-53 — Traveling — Colporteur Experiences in Cincinnati 27 

CHAPTER IV. 

1853-54 — Junior Preacher — Revivals — Holiness People 31 

CHAPTER V. 

1854-55 — Pastor in Dayton — Answers "Yes" to the Missionary 

Call — Goes to Africa — Explores the Country 34 

CHAPTER VI. 
1855-56 — In Africa — Given Up to Die — Returns to America — 

Soliciting From "Nigger" Haters 38 

CHAPTER VII. 

1856-57 — Pastor of a Mission Church — Sent to Africa — Seasick- 
ness — Secures Mission Site — Elected Missionary Secretary. . 43 

CHAPTER VIII. 
1857-58 — Disappointing the Doctors — Lecturing in German at a 
Pennsylvania Camp-Meeting — An Experience — Saving the 
Credit of the Missionary Society • 48 

CHAPTER IX. 

1858-59 — Dealing With the Annual Conferences — Hardest Work 

— Spirit of the South — Some Incidents 63 



CHAPTER X. 

1859-60 — Hard Times — An Incident — -Missionary Telescope — The 

Bishop Severe . . . . , 58 

CHAPTER XL 
1860-61 — Lecturing on Missions — Great Success in the Frontier 

"White-Man Fashion" — Throwing the Teacher 62 

CHAPTER XII. 

1861-62 — Goes to Freetown — Dealing With English Law — Anti- 
Slavery Money — Drunken Captain — Encounters a Gale 66 

CHAPTER XIII. 

1862-63 — Civil War — Threaten the Abolitionist Preacher — 
Authorize Work Among the Freedmen — Visit to President 
Lincoln 71 

CHAPTER XIV. 

1863-64 — Opening a School at Vicksburg — Miss Dickey — Subse- 
quent Fate of Vicksburg Mission * 75 

* CHAPTER XV. 

1864-65 — In the Christian Commission — Preaching to the Soldiers 

at Nashville — A Bishop's Loyalty Questioned 79 

CHAPTER XVI. 

1865-66 — Reverses in Africa — Misconceptions of Good People — 

The German's Blunder — The Board's Endorsement 84 

CHAPTER XVII. 

1866-67 — Metallic Casket — Sample of Opposition to Foreign 

Missions — Discouragements 88 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

1867-68 — Success on the Frontier — Church Erection — An Iowa 

Example — Discouragements in Africa 91 

CHAPTER XIX. 

1869-70— Pleading for Better Rules — The Crisis in African Mis- 
sion — Thomas Tucker "Palaver" 95 



CHAPTER XX. 

1870-71 — Experiences With Tricky Africans — Negotiations With 
American Missionary Association — Joseph Gomer — Headman 
Holds Service — Germany 98 

CHAPTER XXI. 
1871-72 — Talking Money — Chinaman and Indian in California — 

Encouraging News From Africa 103 

CHAPTER XXII. 
1872-73 — Two Remarkable Providences — The Answer to Mrs. 
Hadley's Prayer — Unexpectedly Meets His Namesake, Daniel 
Flickinger Wilberforce — Growth of the Home Mission Work. 107 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

1873-74 — Church Erection Prospering — Sabbath Schools Give 
$3,000 — Flickinger Chapel at Shenge — Reverses in Germany — 
Some African Experiences 112 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
1874-75 — Hard Times, but Missions Prospering — German Editor 
on the Temperance Crusade — On the Lookout for the Police- 
man in Germany — Women's Missionary Societies — African 
Experiences t_ 116 

CHAPTER XXV. 

1875-76 — Visits Africa and Germany — Decide to Continue in. Ger- 
many — A Clean Church in Africa — Saved From the Rocks — 
In Glasgow — Divine Healing — War Party in Africa 120 

* CHAPTER XXVI. 

1876-77 — A Mission for the Chinese on the Pacific Coast — Wom- 
an's Missionary Association — Education of D. K. Wilberforce 
— John Caulker, the Mohammedan, in Jail — Testing a Medi- 
cine Man's Charms — Tom Tucker 125 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

1877-78 — Decrease in Benevolences — Firmness in the Chair — 

Chinese Mission on the Coast — Windowless in Kentucky. . . . 130 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

1878-79 — Fifth Wheel to the Missionary Society — Hon. Carl 
Schurz — Advice to College Faculties, and -the Bishops — 
Talked Too Much in Germany 135 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

1879-80 — An Eventful Year — Organized Mission Districts in 
Germany and Africa — Experiences in Germany — Injustice to 
the Down-Trodden — Church Erection Growing 140 

CHAPTER XXX. 

1880-81— Transformations in Africa— The Spiritual Need of Ger- 
many — More About Germany — State Churches — Headmen's 
Sons as Mission Boys 145 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

1881-82 — Visits Africa Again — A Circle of Mission Sites — Indus- 
trial Training — Rejoicing Over Success — Experiences on a 
Rough Sea Voyage — Collision at Sea 151 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

1882-83 — Accept the Mendi Mission — Go to Africa — Ship Dis- 
abled — Mendi Property — The "Early Dawn" — The John ■ 
Brown Steamer — The "Drivers" 156 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

1883-81 — Increasing Responsibility — Misfortunes of the John 
Brown— Spiritual Results and New Missionaries — A Proph- 
ecy — Flogged the Oarsman — In a Storm ' 162 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

1884-85 — Grumblers — On the Pacific Coast — Treasurer Billheimer 
Reports — Comparison of Cost Per Member — Assets, Material 
and Spiritual — New Kind of Foreordination 166 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

1885-86 — Elected Missionary Bishop — Valedictory as Editor of 
Missionary Visitor — To Africa — Secretary Warner's Re- 
port 173 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

1886-87— Rufus Clark and Wife Give $5,000— Training-School 

Built of Stones From Slave Pen — Process of Building 179 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

1887-88 — A Row Among Workmen — Germany's Need — Criticise 

Industrial Work — Horrors of Slave Traffic — Heathen Burial. 184 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

1888-89 — Appreciation of «T. Gomer — Thirty- two Years of Ser- 
vice — Division in the Church — Signed the Proclamation.... 189 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

1889-90 — Review of Progress — Appreciation of Aid From Other 
Missionary Associations — Men Who Did Things — Triumphant 
Native Christians — Tom Tucker, Christian. Poisoned 193 

CHAPTER XL. 

1890-91— No Regular Employment— Rev. C. Bischoff— Rev. J. K. 

Billheimer and Other Workers in Africa. 199 

CHAPTERS XLI. AND XLII. 

1891-92-93 — A United Brethren Pastor — Preaching for Congre- 
gationalists — The Proprieties — Some Experiences — Among the 
Unfortunates of London 203 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

1893-94 — A Congregational Pastorate — Types of Church-Members 

—Would Not Unite— A Prohibitionist 208 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

1894-95 — Serving a Mission Church — "Pioneer Sermon" — The 

Many Lives of a Debt — Hard Work and Worry 211 

CHAPTER XLV. 
1895-96— Soliciting — Thrown Over an Embankment and Injured 216 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

1896-97— An Eventful Year— A Letter— To Africa for the Radi- 
cals — A Remarkable Meeting — Meeting the Head Man 219 

CHAPTER XLVII. 
1897-98 — Holding Missionary Meetings — Joint Missionary Maga- 
zine — Letter to Miami Conference 223 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

189S-99 — Elected Missionary Secretary — At Huntington, Ind. — 

An Absent-Minded Minister 225 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

1898-99 — Uprising in Africa — D. F. Wilberforce Escapes — 

"Boofima," the Rufns Clark School — Naming Children 228 

CHAPTER L. 

1899-1900— The Madness of Heathenism— The Wilberforce Para- 
mount Chief — Still Pleading for Africa 233 

CHAPTER LI. 
1900-01 — Radical United Brethren Missionary Work — After 

Fifty-One Years — Reason for Selecting Africa. 236 

CHAPTER LII. 
1901-02— Division— A Plea for Different Methods 239 

CHAPTER LIII. 
1902-03 — Gave a Bible to a Mohammedan — A Rooster for Mis- 
sions — A Native's Contribution — Neither Poverty Nor Riches 242 

CHAPTER LIV. 
1903-04 — Trouble and Sickness — African Incidents — The Con- 
verted Deck Hand — W^on the Debate 245 

CHAPTER LV. 

1904-5 — Grieved — Saddening Events — Retires From the Mission- 
ary Secretaryship — Reunites With Miami Conference 249 

CHAPTER LVI. 
1905-07— Reflex Influence of Foreign Missions — A Difficult Field 

— Results — A Glorious Future 253 

CHAPTER LVII. 
Random Recollections — Numerous Observations, Bits of Expe- 
rience, Interesting Events, Amusing Incidents 256 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Rev. W. J. Shuey 

Dp.. D. C. Kumler 

Rev. J. C. Brigpit 

Re\. John Kemp 

Rev. J. K. Billhetmer 

Mrs. A. L. Billheimer 

Rev. 0. Hadley 

Rev. Joseph Gomer 

Mrs. Joseph Gomer 

Rufus Clark and Wife Training School 

Mary Sowers Girls' Home 

First Mission Chapel in Africa 

Daniel Flickinger Wilberforce 

Mrs. Mary Sowers 

Mrs. Sylvia Haywood 

Rev. R. N. West and Wife 

In Africa 

Rev. I. N. Cain 

Mrs. Mary M. Cain 

Miss Ella Schenck 

Miss Mary C. Archer 

Miss Marietta Hatfield 

Rev. and Mrs. L. A. McGrew 

Martyr Memorial Church 

Flickinger Chapel. Shenge, Africa 






INTRODUCTION 



Fifty-five years of active life in the gospel ministry, having 
served in the capacity of "circuit rider," stationed preacher, 
home missionary, foreign missionary, presiding elder, corres- 
ponding secretary of the Missionary Society, and missionary 
bishop, has given me an extensive knowledge of the work in the 
United Brethren Church. Going to Africa twelve times, first in 
the year 1855, and last in 1896, and spending several years in 
missionary work in that country; visiting Germany eight times 
between the years 1874 and 1889, and spending in all over one 
year there, acting as presiding elder part of that time, and being 
bishop of that field for four years, gave me a good knowledge of 
those mission fields. Spending six months on the Pacific Coast, 
during the years of 1873 and 1884, in the States of California, 
Oregon, and Washington, doing mission work; also in Colorado, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee, preaching at all the places where 
United Brethren missionaries had appointments; visiting all 
other mission districts, and mission conferences, to which the 
United Brethren Board of Missions gave support in this country 
— these being in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, -Missouri, Iowa, 
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada — While correspond- 
ing secretary of the Missionary Society, from 1857 to 1885, 
gave me a full knowledge of the condition of things in these 
places. I also attended over two hundred sessions of annual 
conferences in the interest of missions and other Church enter- 
prises. I selected the headquarters of the African mission, and 
many other positions occupied there. I suggested and managed 
the transfer of the Mendi mission from the American Missionary 
Association to the United Brethren, making a trip to Africa 
especially for that purpose. I also organized the first United 
Brethren societies in Africa, and later missionary districts 
(conferences), there and in Germany, and had much to do with 
both from their commencement till the Church divided in 1889, 
at which time they were in a prosperous condition. Of the 
594,000 miles I traveled, at least 570,000 were in behalf of 
Church work, mostly for missions". 

13 



It is indeed remarkable how much may transpire in fifty-five 
years of active work in the gospel ministry. Dr. Talmage once 
said that one could live more now in ten years than Methuselah 
did in nine hundred years. Extravagant as such a statement 
may seem, it is true in respect to many things, some of which 
were not known in the days of Methuselah. St. John's declara- 
tion seems as extravagant as that, "And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be 
written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could 
not contain the books." 

Many of the incidents and anecdotes narrated in the following 
pages were witnessed by me, I often being an actor in them. 
The reader will bear in mind that this is not intended to be a 
history, or an autobiography, or a missionary journal, or a 
record of current events, but reminiscences thrown together, 
one part of which, in some instances, having no relation to any 
other part. Neither are the anecdotes and incidents intended 
always to illustrate the matter in connection with which they 
stand, but for the humor and good points in them they have 
been inserted. 

I wish to record my gratitude to God that he called me into 
his service sixty-seven years ago, and into the active work of 
the ministry over fifty-five years ago. How mercifully and lov- 
ingly he has cared for me in perils by land and sea! Truly his 
everlasting arms have been beneath and around me. Once on 
the ocean the vessel in which I sailed collided with another; on 
another occasion the steamer lost its rudder one thousand miles 
from land; once a gale carried the vessel across the Gulf Stream, 
out of its way, staving in the sides; then, in Africa, on small, 
frail row-boats, several times it looked as if death was in- 
evitable; the African fever once so prostrated me that I was 
given up to die, and one time, in America, the doctors said I 
could not live three months on account of the poisonous effects 
of African fever in my system. Truly goodness and mercy have 
followed me all the days of my life! 

Perhaps the greatest wonder of all, and the one for which I 
should praise God the most, is that marvelous grace that has 
made me an heir of salvation. But for the restraints of religion, 
my impetuous disposition, high metal, and readiness to retaliate 
insults would have led me from bad to worse, no doubt, and re- 
sulted in my death long ago. 

I wish here to say that after very extensive and careful 
observation, and a long and varied experience in religious mat- 
ters and Christian work, the religion of Christ does for men 

14 



what St. Paul declares tie was sent to do; namely, "To open their 
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of 
sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith." 
It does save the chief of sinners from all moral guilt, pollution, 
enmity to God and man,- and fits those who heartily embrace it 
for happy, useful living, victorious dying, and a home with God 
and the glorified in heaven. 



15 



FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF ACTIVE LIFE IN THE 
GOSPEL MINISTRY 



CHAPTEE I. 



1850-51 — First Circuit — Hide Good for Forty Years — Local Preachers 
— Surprised the Quarterly Conference. 

I became a member of the Church of the United Brethren 
in Christ in Xovember, 1839, and received quarterly confer- 
ence license to preach the gospel in April, 1849. I united 
with the Miami Annual Conference in October, 1850, and be- 
came an unreserved itinerant, which relation I have sustained 
ever since. In 1895, I withdrew from Miami Conference 
of the United Brethren Church and united with the Scioto 
Annual Conference of the Eadical United Brethren Church, 
from which I transferred in 1904, returning to the Church in 
1905, and reuniting with the Miami Conference in 1906. 

1 received my first appointment in October, 1850, when 
Miami Conference sent me and Eev. E. Morris to the Mt. 
Pleasant Circuit, a circuit of nine appointments, near the city 
of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Xorris was the senior, and I the 
junior preacher. This action of the conference did not meet 
the approval of a certain minister of our Church living on 
that circuit, for the reason that Mr. Xorris was too well 
known, and I not well enough. That minister had. served as 
presiding elder a year or two, and always wanted either that 
office or his home circuit. He had a controlling interest in a 
small store in the town in which he lived, which made him 
prefer that field of labor, when he was not chosen to the office 
of presiding elder. Among other things, he said that it re- 

2 17 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

quired good preaching to satisfy the people there, and that if 
a man could please them for one year, his hide would last him 
forty years. This word, which was meant to keep us from ac- 
cepting the field, reached us before we went to the circuit. 

Mr. Xorris and I talked over the situation, and decided 
that, to the best of our ability, we would do the work that the 
conference had assigned us. Mr. Norris being preacher in 
charge, and responsible for the management of the circuit, 
made the first round, and announced my coming two weeks 
later. We met with little opposition. Early in the year we 
commenced holding protracted meetings, during which time 
we visited a good deal. By the help of the local preachers we 
kept up the regular appointments, and held revival services 
nearly all the winter, receiving nearly one hundred members 
into the Church during the year, and left the circuit in good 
condition. 

Among the local preachers living on that circuit was one 
who was original and witty, and had the courage of his con- 
victions. He had traveled a circuit in his younger years, 
and continued to do a good deal of preaching, especially on 
funeral occasions. He hated shams, and loved plain evangeli- 
cal preaching. Once he was listening for about an hour to a 
man who never could preach much, and on that occasion was 
doing worse than usual. His text was, "Sow to yourselves in 
righteousness, reap in mercy: break up your fallow ground: 
for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteous- 
ness upon you." 

Sitting in the pulpit with him, the local preacher spoke 

right out and said, "Brother J , you better unhitch, and 

take your plow to the smith-shop, and get it sharpened." On 
another occasion a man who had little qualification for the 
ministry was trying to preach. For nearly an hour he had 
blundered on, when he remarked that he had then reached a 
place where a large field opened before him. Just then that 
old preacher, who sat near to the pulpit, spoke out : "0 Lord, 
put up the bars, so Brother L can't get into that field, 

18 



In the Gospel Ministry 

for we are tired and want to go home to dinner. 7 ' This old 
minister and the two whom he rebuked being farmers, and the 
congregations composed mostly of farmers, the statements 
made about getting the plow sharpened and putting up the 
bars were well understood, and in both cases brought the 
harangues to a speedy close. 

That old minister had a near neighbor who was an infidel, 
and who sought at times to ridicule him about his religion. 
One day the neighbor called him over to his corn-field to see 
what was wrong with the corn, which did not grow as fast as 
the preacher's in an adjoining field. He went, and the infidel 
said to him, "I know you believe in prayer ; now you pray that 
my corn may grow as fast as yours." "Yes," said the min- 
ister, "I do believe in praying, but that will do no good in 
this case. What you need to do is to keep the weeds out of 
your field and enrich the ground, as I did mine." Then, 
stepping in front of him and looking him square in the face, 
he said, "God never answered a prayer to do for men what 
they could do for themselves. I can't pray for your corn-field ; 
but I will pray God to take away your laziness, and make you 
an industrious, good man." That infidel never attempted to 
mock that minister again, and soon moved away to another 
neighborhood. 

You may wonder how I succeeded in preaching. As I had 
attempted to preach but four or five times before being sent 
to my first charge, and not using others' sermon sketches and 
skeletons, I was compelled to study hard and pray much to 
be able to do the work required of me. I would write sermon 
outlines and memorize them on the way to my appointments. 
I learned that God helped me most to preach when I helped 
myself most, and that the Holy Spirit did assist me, but that 
he never did for me what God's Word required of me, in the 
injunction, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the 
word of truth." 



19 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

The third quarterly meeting for the year was held in April, 
1851. Just as the quarterly conference was about to close its 
business on Saturday evening, a motion was made asking Mr. 
Norris to resign, on the grounds that the circuit was unable 
to pay the salaries of two men. The Disciplinary allowance 
then was eighty dollars a year for a single man, and one hun- 
dred and sixty dollars for a married man. As we were both 
married, three hundred and twenty dollars were to be given us. 
Mr. Norris was a poor man ; I owned a good farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres of land. There was considerable 
salary due us, and the idea of sending away unpaid the man 
who could not live without his salary, and keeping me who 
could live without the stipend, aroused my indignation. The 
circuit was rich, and could easily have paid all that was re- 
quired, and I felt it to be an outrage to treat Mr. Norris in 
that way. Just as the quarterly conference was about to vote 
on the motion I interrupted the proceedings, and told them 
that if they adopted that motion I would be on my horse, then 
hitched near the church, in ten minutes, and go home that 
night, eleven miles distant, and never return to that circuit 
to preach again, declaring that I would rather preach for 
nothing to people too poor to pay, than to preach to rich, 
stingy people for one hundred and sixty dollars a year. There 
was something in my manner that made that conference feel 
they ought not pass that motion* and it was withdrawn. The 
religious services that night and the following day were good, 
and we both stayed the remainder of the year, and all went on 
smoothly. The sum total received was two hundred and 
eighty-one dollars for the year's work, Mr. Norris getting 
one hundred and sixty dollars, and I one hundred and twenty- 
one dollars, the division being in accordance with my wishes. 

The presiding elder of that year had a few favorite ser- 
mons. He held two quarterly meetings on circuits but four 
miles apart, attended by the pastors and many of the people 
of both circuits, and he preached the same sermon at both 
places. One of the pastors deplored the occurrence, and told 

20 



In the Gospel Ministry 

the elder that he had thereby lessened his influence for good, 
especially with irreligious people. The presiding elder justi- 
fied his course by saying that he could see no objections to 
using the plow that had done good work in one field to culti- 
vate another, especially when the soil was about the same 
kind. Xotwithstanding his reasoning, his course injured our 
cause. 

Just before closing my work on that circuit, I bought a 
home in Oxford, Ohio, with a view of moving there and com- 
pleting a course of study at Miami University. I left the 
session of the next annual conference before its adjourn- 
ment, on account of the sickness of my wife, who died the 
following Monday night. This unexpected bereavement, leav- 
ing me with two children, the one near three years old, and 
the other less than a week old, changed all my plans. 



21 



CHAPTER II. 

1851-52 — Education — Changing the Hour ifor Service — Whisky in the 
Harvest Field — Baptizing a Big Man — Camp-meeting. 

When about fifteen years of age I requested my father to 
let me go to college five years, in lieu of receiving a deed to a 
farm worth about $5,000, which I was told should become 
mine at twenty-one. This was denied me, and my education 
was all obtained in a small country school, except what I got 
after the age of twenty-one, when I attended a seminary one 
year, preparatory to my entering upon a full college course. 
Failing health prevented the realization of this purpose. 
When I felt it my duty to preach, I more than ever desired a 
good education, and notified the conference that I intended to 
go to college. Contrary to my wishes, it sent me to Lewis- 
burg Circuit. That field had six regular appointments, to 
be filled once every two weeks, and not being in good condi- 
tion to attend college, on account of the death of my wife, 
I went to the circuit with the view of serving it for a time, but 
not the whole year. At the second quarterly meeting I of- 
fered my resignation, my health not being good, owing to 
hard work done in revival meetings. This resignation was ac- 
cepted on condition that I would continue to work until one 
could be found to take my place, which never was done. At 
the end of the third quarter I was induced to continue to 
preach till the end of that- year. 

At one of the oldest preaching places on that circuit the 
meetings had always been held at eleven o'clock in the fore- 
noon. There was an appointment six miles from that place 
at two-thirty in the afternoon, and the roads being bad in 
the winter, I asked to have the meetings at the former place 

22 



In the Gospel Ministry 

held at ten o'clock. Serious objections were made, but the 
privilege was given me to try, with the assurance that the at- 
tempt would fail, as all former attempts had done. I then 
told them that my next meeting would be at eleven o'clock, 
as usual, but after that at ten, and that they should arrange 
accordingly. The people smiled at my folly for trying to 
change. In two weeks I emphasized that after that time the 
meetings would be at ten o'clock promptly. So it was, but the 
first Sunday my audience consisted of the sexton of that 
church and one woman. The usual congregation was coming 
as the meeting closed. They were told again that the hour 
would be ten in the future, and at the next service about one- 
half of the people were there, but after that the usual con- 
gregation got there at ten o'clock. 

I had another embarrassing experience at that same church. 
Some of the members, among them the class-leader, would 
drink whisky in harvest time, and give it to their harvest 
hands. When they were told that it was a violation of our 
Discipline, and asked to desist, they laughed and almost de- 
fied me, knowing that the class would not act or assist me in 
enforcing the Discipline. They were rich and paid well, it 
was said, and they had better be left alone. I visited them 
the last time on Sabbath morning on my way to church to 
preach my last sermon for that year. I plead with them to 
promise not to take whisky to their harvest-fields, or to use it 
at any time as a beverage. They refused to consent to my re- 
quest, but told me that as I was making so much ado about 
the matter, I should take their names off the class-book. I 
told them that they had better stay in the Church and obey 
its rules, but if they insisted on my erasing their names it 
might be done. Xone of them would accompany me to 
church, but I found a local preacher there from an adjoining 
circuit, who was on the side of the law-breakers. I had him 
sit in the pulpit and make the opening prayer. He then told 
me that he wished to advise with me after the services respect- 
ing the trouble there. As I had advised with about half a 

23 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

dozen other local preachers on that circuit, and most of them 
in that class, and as that was my last Sunday there, I felt the 
time for action had come. After the sermon I made a short 
prayer, and proceeded to say that as the persons who had been 
violating our Discipline, in the use of strong drink, refused 
to promise reformation, but had authorized me to take their 
names off the class-book, I therefore, at their request, declared 
that they were no longer members of the United Brethren 
Church. By that time the local preacher in the pulpit was 
pulling my coat-tail, saying that they could not be put out 
of the Church without the action of that class, to which I re- 
plied that they had a right to withdraw from the Church, and 
upon their authorization, I had the right to say that they. had 
withdrawn, and hence were no longer members of the Church. 
They had boastingly said that their preacher could not get 
them out of the Church, neither could I have done so had they 
not 'so ordered. So dissatisfied were they and their friends 
that the matter was taken to the annual conference, and the 
Bishop was asked to reverse the verdict of the preacher. His 
reply was that the young preacher may have been a little 
hasty in doing what he did, but he was evidently on the right 
track, and hence the matter had better be left as it was. That 
rich class-leader soon afterward moved into one of. the West- 
ern States, quit keeping whisky in harvest time, came back 
into the Church, and gave several hundred dollars to build a 
house of worship where he then belonged. 

There was another grand triumph over whisky that year at 
another place on the circuit during a revival meeting held 
there. A young man having a wife and three children was 
drunk much of the time, causing his family to suffer a good 
deal. He came to a morning meeting and asked the prayers 
of those present, and then kneeled at the altar. We all knew 
that he had been drunk the night before, which caused a little 
hesitancy on our part. He imploringly said, "Do help me, for 
I am a miserable sinner." We gathered around the man and 
prayed, and instructed him as best we could. He came to the 

24 



In the Gospel Ministry 

night meeting, and kept on coming until lie professed to be 
saved, and then united with the Church, and as long as I 
knew him, which was for some years after that, he was a con- 
sistent Christian. 

At the same meeting twelve unusually large men united 
with the Church one Sabbath morning. I exhorted them to 
"put on the whole armor of God, that they might stand 
against the wiles of the devil." A wag remarked at the close 
of the meeting, that twelve large men like those ought to be 
able to whip the devil without any armor. 

At the close of the first revival that year a number were 
baptized by immersion, and among them several large men, 
and a woman who weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, 
which was twice as much as I weighed. Some fears were ex- 
pressed that I could not handle them; but I did, by having 
all kneel in the water before I dipped them into it. The year 
closed with seventy additions to the Church, my salary all 
paid, and all the money to the various Church enterprises 
provided in full, and some overpaid. 

On my way to conference I attended a camp-meeting of 
remarkable power, east of Cincinnati, Ohio. The meeting com- 
menced on Tuesday night, and was to continue until the fol- 
lowing Tuesday morning. I arrived there on Thursday in a 
shower of rain; the next day, in the forenoon, I preached be- 
tween showers, and on. Sunday afternoon I preached, having 
to stop twice on account of showers of rain. On Monday 
toward noon it cleared up, and that afternoon dry straw was 
provided for the altar and space immediately in front of the 
preacher's stand. After a sermon that night an invitation 
was given to the unsaved to come to the altar and seek salva- 
tion. In a few minutes about fifty were there, and forty of 
them professed to be saved; the next night sixty persons 
knelt at the altar, nearly all professing conversion. That 
night while we were at the altar laboring with the seekers of 
religion, some one began to shout. A local preacher present 
called out at the top of his voice that it was not the time to 

25 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

shout, saying that we should mourn with those who mourn, 
and then rejoice with them after they had found the Savior 
in the forgiveness of their sins. That stopped all shouting 
for a time, but it was resumed a little later, when about fifty 
persons were at it with all their might. 



26 



CHAPTER III. 

1852-53 — Traveling — Colporteur Experiences in Cincinnati — "Every- 
thing has to be Leavened.'' 

My health continuing poor, I deemed it best not to accept 
a circuit, and being averse to asking for a location, I took a 
transfer to nnite with any annnal conference I might choose. 
Bishop Glossbrenner, who presided at that conference, went 
from there to the Indiana, Wabash, Iowa, and Illinois con- 
ferences, and I accompanied him to them all, being gone 
nearly two months before returning to Ohio. 

I greatly enjoyed that trip. The travel and rest much im- 
proved my health. The poverty, privations, and hard work of 
itinerants in the West, with their zeal for the salvation of 
men, greatly excited my admiration and sympathy. I gave 
them all the spare money I had with me and my watch, 
amounting to about fifty dollars. Itinerating in the West 
then implied many hardships. The circuits were large, ex- 
posure to inclement weather great, and the pay small. 

I remained in Ohio about a month after I returned from 
the West, and then went to Virginia, spending nearly two 
months at the home of Bishop G-lossbrenner and in that vicin- 
ity. I did a considerable amount of preaching during all of 
these months of travel in the East and West. On the 9th of 
January, 1853, I was married to Miss Catherine G-lossbrenner, 
the oldest child of Bishop Glossbrenner. 

The first United Brethren Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, had 
operated a mission Sunday school for some time, and the 
American Tract Society wished a colporteur for the part of 
Cincinnati in which that school was held, the building used 
being a rickety old house, once occupied as a residence. I was 
appointed as a colporteur and city missionary, and preached 

27 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

on Sabbath to congregations varying from three to fifty per- 
sons. xVs colporteur I visited as many as forty and fifty fam- 
ilies a day when the weather was good, having tracts to give 
away and books to sell. I talked with the people respecting 
their religions condition, praying with them when permitted 
and it seemed advisable. This work continued until Miami 
Conference met in the fall of 1853, when I returned to it for 
work. The mission in Cincinnati was discontinued, but my 
work as colporteur and missionary opened my eyes to the sad 
condition of some people and their need of being saved. I 
learned that truly the tares and wheat grew together in this 
world, that saints and scoffers at religion lived next door 
neighbors. 

In one instance the mistress of the house, in the presence 
of her children, some of whom were nearly grown, said that 
she had no use for any such books as were published by the 
American Tract Society, or of the Bible itself. She had got- 
ten quite beyond such old productions, and received revela- 
tions from God direct when she desired them. When asked 
if it would be agreeable to pray there, she replied that if it 
would do me any good it would be all right, but they did not 
need it. I prayed, nevertheless, and while upon my knees 
she and her children sat and made fun of me. On another 
occasion the man of the house, after saying ugly things against 
Christians and their books, remarked, "You are welcome to 
pray, but I will not quit smoking while you do so." He made 
the room dark with smoke. In a few instances I was not al- 
lowed to show my books, or to leave tracts to be read, and in 
one place I was ordered out of the house by a Catholic family, 
who said their priest had told them to do so, if any one tried 
to sell them books. 

Once, during very hot weather, I was entertained by a 
farmer who told me, when taking me to my bedroom, that the 
reason he always had the windows and doors closed where he 
slept was that he feared some evil would befall him in the 
night while passing through China. His idea was that in the 

28 



In the Gospel Ministry 

rotation of the earth we passed through China about mid- 
night. My experience with some people as colpor- 
teur caused me to feel that all the windows and 
doors ought to be closed against their blasphemous and 
outrageous conduct, so others might not be contaminated by 
them. Xo wonder St. Paul says, "And have no fellowship 
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove 
them." 

Having been brought up in the country, by honest Pennsyl- 
vania parents, and never having mingled with people who 
neither feared God nor respected their fellow-men, these ex- 
periences were new, impressive, and in a sense important to me. 
Having entered the ministry without any special training or 
preparation for that work, and having nearly everything to 
learn during the first three years, I Avas poorly prepared to 
perform some of the obligations resting upon me as a min- 
ister. 

I have often been reminded of the truth of what an old 
fisherman told me when I was a mere lad. We had the same 
kind of poles, lines, hooks, and bait, and we sat within ten 
feet of each other on the bank of the river, but that man 
caught from + hree to four times as many fish as I did. When 
I asked why it was, the old man answered, "Everything has 
to be learned, young man." Truly so it has been in my life. 
My experience when about sixteen years of age convinced me 
that so simple a thing as riding an ox had to be learned. An 
older brother and I had gone about twenty-five miles from 
home and bought a drove of hogs. We hired a young man 
to assist us, whose father also went with us to take a yoke of 
oxen to market. The road for about half a mile led through 
woods, and we were kept very busy preventing our drove from 
getting away. A full hour was spent in getting them to the long 
lane through which we passed afterward. As soon as all were 
in the lane I gave the young man, who was afoot and tired, 
my horse to ride, and I walked. The mud was deep and I 
soon got tired, when the owner of the oxen told me to get on 

29 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

the back of the near ox, as he had often been ridden. I soon 
was astride the animal, and all went well enough except the 
oxen did not keep np with the hogs. Having a spur on my 
right foot, I pricked the beast a little, causing him to step for- 
ward more briskly for a time, but he soon dropped back to 
the old gait. I spurred him again, a little harder than the 
first time, when that ox gave a furious bawl, and kicked so 
high that I turned a complete somersault over his head into 
the mud, which was so soft that it received a good imprint of 
my whole body. The eyes of the ox flashed fire, and his 
great horns were close to my head, but he did not attempt to 
injure me. The three men on horseback were some distance 
ahead, but the bawl of that ox caused them all to 
look back in time to see me fall heels over head in front of the 
offended beast. They all yelled in laughter, and kept at it so 
long that it gave me a good opportunity to scrape the mud off 
of my clothes, face, and hands. Getting off that animal was one 
of the quickest and most remarkable feats of my life. The 
old fisherman's remark, "Everything has to be learned, young 
man," was verified in that experience, and in many other 
things in my life. 



30 



CHAPTER IV. 

1853-54 — Junior Preacher — Revivals — Holiness People. 

Having been a member of conference three years, and hav- 
ing passed my course of reading, I was ordained. The 
ordination services were unusually impressive, and I 
sought anew to consecrate my life and powers to 
God. I realized that I must be the Lord's fully 
to be a successful minister, and I felt that not to 
be successful in such a sacred work was itself a reproach and 
sin. I felt that a call from God to preach the gospel was a 
call to study hard, pray much, and labor earnestly to promote 
the salvation of the wicked, and the edification of Christians. 
St. Paul's language deeply impressed me : "But in all things 
approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in such patience, 
in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in impris- 
onments, in tumults, in labors, and watchings, in fastings ; by 
pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering^ by kindness, by the 
Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the 
power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right 
hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report 
and good report : as deceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and 
yet well known ; as dying, and, behold, we live ; as chastened, 
and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet 
making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all 
things." 

The field of labor to which I was sent by the conference 
consisted of Dayton, Miami Chapel, one mile distant, and 
Beavertown, four miles from the city. Eev. William Ehine- 
hart was senior preacher of the charge, he preaching one 
Sunday morning and night in the city, and the next at the 

31 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

other appointments, and I in the same order. Having to 
preach twice on one Sunday to the same congregation, the 
people from the country appointments often coming to the 
city, especially during protracted meetings, required care and 
study for a young preacher. 

The Religious Telescope office was moved from Circleville, 
Ohio, to Dayton, during the autumn of this year, bringing 
with it Rev. J. Lawrence, the editor, and Solomon Vonnieda, 
Publishing Agent; also Bishop Edwards and Eev. Henry 
Staub, editor of our own German paper. 

'Mr. Ehinehart having been in the ministry for many years, 
and being an eloquent speaker and an excellent singer, and I 
being neither, put me at a great disadvantage, which I keenly 
felt, 'but nevertheless I pegged away, doing my best to be ac- 
ceptable to the people. The ministers who came to Dayton 
with the Telescope office, and whose presence at the preach- 
ing services embarrassed me at first, soon became my best 
helpers. They knew how to sympathize with, and pray for a 
young, timid preacher. 

During the year there was considerable success and growth 
in the membership of the Church, both at the country ap- 
pointments and in the city of Dayton. In the city, large audi- 
ences attended the protracted meetings, so much so that at 
times many could not get into the church, which was sixty by 
forty feet, with a gallery in the rear. Our Church was new 
then, more noisy than any other in the city, and that brought 
crowds of people. Quite a number were saved, some joining 
our Church, and some other churches. There were some who, 
instead of calling us United Brethren in Christ, called us 
"United States artillerymen." 

Among the members was one woman who could not keep in 
line with good English in her public prayers. She told the 
Lord that he must not let the world, or the flesh, or the 
devil get into her and others, so as to force him out. Once she 
said, "Lord, mash us down, or break our bones, if thou canst 
not keep us from sinning any other way." An Irishman who 

32 





P5 o> 






> .5 

P3 ^ 



In the Gospel Ministry 

had been converted in the meeting, in a speaking-meeting 
stepped out into the aisle of the church, and said, "I am the 
hoppiest mon that ever stood in shoe leather." He had been 
an unbeliever and a wicked man, but was soundly converted, 
and with lips and life he magnified the saving grace of Christ. 

Some of our members there were great advocates of entire 
holiness, and greatly deplored the indifference and worldliness 
of others. A few holiness workers from abroad came to assist 
in holding a holiness prayer-meeting for a week. The meet- 
ing was well attended, especially on the night of the regular 
prayer-meeting, when they made an effort to have all go for- 
ward to the altar and seek the blessing of holiness. Three of 
us ministers did not go, but knelt where we were, and helped 
to sing and pray. 

During that meeting the word "perfect" was often used. 
"Be 3*e perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," was fre- 
quently quoted. I asked whether to love the Lord with all the 
heart, mind, soul, and strength was not perfect love, as nearly 
as it was possible to possess it, and whether to implicitly be- 
lieve his Word was not perfect faith, and whether perfect 
obedience to the requirements, of God's law was not as. high 
as we could go in that matter. The answer was that all the 
perfection they claimed was to love God supremely, believe his 
Word implicitly, and obey it to the best of one's ability. I 
said then, and say yet, that to love the Lord with all the soul, 
mind, and strength is perfect love, and to fully believe his 
Word is perfect faith, and to implicitly- obey its teachings is 
perfect obedience, and that all these we must possess to be 
Christians at all. How much better to strive to be Bible 
Christians, not extraordinary Christians, just fully Chris- 
tians. It is a misfortune for any professor of religion to be 
like the Indian's tree, "so straight that it leaned a little." A 
certain minister once took the wind out of the sail of an en- 
thusiastic sanctificationist by telling him that he had watched 
them for years, and found them no better than other pro- 
fessors of religion, that at best they "were sanctified only in 
spots." 

3 33 



CHAPTER V. 

1854-55 — Pastor in Dayton — Quarreling Members — Answers "Yes" to 
the Missionary Call — Goes to Africa — Explores the Country. 

The annual conference of 1854 made two fields of labor of 
the Dayton charge, constituting the city one and the two 
country appointments another. Mr. Ehinehart was put in 
charge of the country appointments, and I was given Dayton. 
Two things made the end of the fourth year and the begin- 
ning of the fifth year very sad ; namety, the death of my wife 
in August, and the disgraceful quarrel which occurred at the 
reorganization of the Dayton class, in October, between two 
church officials. So bitter became the quarrel that one day, in 
a grocery kept by one of them, very ugly words were spoken, 
and one of them grabbed a ham close to him, and the other a 
cheese-box with a cheese in it; they were about to throw at 
each other, but were prevented by a third party getting be- 
tween them. The church cited them to appear before a com- 
mittee for trial, and they were adjudged guilty of unchristian 
conduct, and required to confess the same to the class and 
promise to cease from such conduct. The one complied with 
the order of the committee, but the other one refused. He 
was the richest man in the class, and possessed some very good 
qualities. There were some good women belonging to that 
society who insisted that there must be an end to the ugly 
quarrel, but they urged the pastor not to be hasty in executing 
the order of the committee, which was that unless the confes- 
sion be made within two weeks, the pastor was to publicly 
state that the offending person was no longer a member of the 
Church. The boy's composition on woman had the following : 
"Woman was made after man and she has been after him ever 

34 



In the Gospel Ministry 

since. " The best women of the class were after that man, earn- 
estly desiring his reformation, and I also urged him to the last 
hour of the time given to make confession. During my last 
interview with him, which was just before I went into the 
pulpit on Sunday morning, he said, "Put me out of the 
Church," perhaps thinking that I dared not do so. At the 
close of the service I made a brief explanation of the case, 
and said that I was under the sad necessity of saying that 
this brother was no longer a member of our Church. He and 
family, and their friends, were present, and there was intense 
feeling in the congregation, and some hard things were said 
about me, but I felt much relieved, because that which had 
troubled that church for nearly a year was coming to an end. 
As Pat said, "There is an end to all things, but my wooden 
poker, which was burned off and now it has no end/' 
The congregations were not diminished, nor any interest of 
the church injured by what was done, and all went well for 
the remainder of the year. 

It was in December of this year, 1854, that the unexpected 
call came to me to go to Africa as a missionary, to accompany 
Eev. W. J. Shuey and Dr. D. C. Kumler, who had been under 
appointment for some time, and were only waiting until a 
third man could be found to go with them. It was about ten 
o'clock in the morning when I was asked to be that third man, 
and at two o'clock the same day I answered, "Yes." I had 
offered my services a couple of months before, but they were 
not accepted on account of my health. At six o'clock that same 
night I took the train for New York to make arrange- 
ments for sailing, and returned to Dayton four days after- 
ward, having been on the cars three nights out of the four 
gone. I resigned my charge the day after returning from 
Xew York, which was Christmas, and commenced making 
preparations for my departure to Africa, the three of us leav- 
ing the following week. I made a will just before starting for 
Africa, bequeathing five thousand dollars to Otterbein Uni- 
versity, which it certainly would have received had I died in 

35 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

Africa, as many supposed would be the case. The college did 
not get that money, but did get about four thousand dollars, 
in payments of from five hundred dollars to one thousand 
dollars afterward, and it graduated my four sons, for whose 
education at Otterbein University I expended over seven 
thousanl dollars. 

We were detained in New York City about two weeks longer 
than was expected, as the vessel delayed sailing until the 23d 
of January, 1855. After a rough voyage of thirty-four days 
we reached Freetown, on the night of February 26. Besides 
the three United Brethren missionaries on that brig, there 
were six missionaries going to Mendi mission, sent there by 
the American Missionary Association, of the Congregational 
Church. The whole company suffered much from seasick- 
ness for nearly two weeks, but after that all seemed to enjoy 
the voyage. Daily prayers were held in the cabin, with 
preaching each Sunday by one of the missionaries. 

Among the things which attracted our attention when we 
went ashore in Freetown, was a row of barrels lying at the 
wharf, having printed on their heads in large letters, "Smith 
& Co., rectifiers of ardent spirits, Cincinnati, Ohio." Three 
of us had gone from near Cincinnati, Ohio, as missionaries, 
but Smith & Co. were there ahead of us with rum. We soon 
learned that the black people loved strong drink at sight, and 
that when full of whisky they had no more sense than white 
people under similar circumstances. 

We remained in Freetown only two or three days, including 
a Sunday, when all three of us preached in Wesleyan chapels. 
Our company then went to Bonthe on the same vessel which 
had carried us from New York. Mendi mission had a mis- 
sion residence there, known as Good Hope Station, at which 
we made our home when in Bonthe. It was there where one 
of the two brethren who accompanied me said one day, 
"Africa is a dark place. God's time has not yet come to 
evangelize- this country, and it's no use for us all staying 
here." Two of them did afterwards come away, and I felt 

36 



In the Gospel Ministry 

like doing the same thing, but feared that if we all left then 
it would so discourage our people in America that they, would 
never attempt foreign missionary work again. They remained 
from February 26 till June 30, one of them ascending 
the Boom Eiver nearly one hundred miles, and two of us go- 
ing up the Jong and Baily rivers to Mo-kelleh, a large town, 
where we thought of opening a mission station. After the 
two had returned to America I explored the country more 
fully, twice going up the Boom Eiver one hundred miles, and 
on other rivers as far as they were navigable. The rainy 
season and my sickness during July prevented any more ex- 
ploration during the months of July, August, and September. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1855-56 — In Africa — Given Up to Die — 'Returns to America — Solicit- 
ing From "Nigger"-Haters. ' 

At the beginning of the sixth year I was in Africa, as hope- 
ful and cheerful as a man alone and surrounded with discour- 
aging circumstances could be. Of that company of nine who 
went to Africa as missionaries with me, one died in six weeks, 
another in three months, a third one in six months, and two 
had returned to the United States about three months after 
getting there, leaving four of the number in Africa. These 
had all suffered a good deal with African fever, especially 
myself. I had explored the country a good deal, and con- 
cluded to open a mission close to the town of Baily, on the 
Baily River, or at Mo-Bovia on the Big Boom River, or at 
Shenge on the coast. The latter was my preference, but the 
head man there would not give his consent to have a mission 
at that place. 

The diversity of opinions expressed by the brethren of the 
Mendi mission, with whom I made my home, and the serious 
obstacles in the way of commencing anywhere alone, in view 
of. my poor health, were perplexing. 

On the 30th of October I was married to Miss Susan Wool- 
sey, one of the missionaries of the Mendi mission, a. member of 
the party with whom I had gone to Africa. Just before that I 
had visited Shenge, and had gone on to Freetown to engage 
mechanics to build a house at some point at which I would 
decide to commence the United Brethren mission. On the 
21st of November I made a second trip of one hundred miles 
up the Big Boom River, where I arranged to open a station at 
Mo-Bovia on that stream. The chiefs failing to meet me as they 



In the Gospel Ministry 

had promised, I left after waiting on them for several days, 
and redoubled my efforts to get Chief Canlker to agree to give 
a tract of land at Shenge for a mission site. In this I had the 
help of D. W. Burton, who convinced the chief that a mission 
station at Shenge would make it safe for him to return to 
that place, he being then in exile, his enemies seeking his 
life. 

During this second trip up the Boom Eiver I came near 
drowning once, and I was so bitten by mosquitoes as to suffer 
great agony. Drinking about a quart of strong coffee 
brought me relief, but evidently those, bites had much to do 
with causing me to have the most severe attack of African fever 
I ever experienced. I reached Mo-Tappan, a mission station 
of the Mendi mission, on Saturday, and found no one there 
at the time but a native and his wife. On Sunday I preached 
to the people, when quite a crowd remained to see me eat. 
Among the number was the head man of the town, who told 
the others, "White man can eat but little, little, little, can 
have only one wife, and die soon; but black man can eat 
plenty, fill himself good, and can have plenty wife, and live 
long time." 

Thus the months of November and December were spent 
trying hard to obtain a mission site, and to commence build- 
ing a mission house, but the last days of December found me a 
very sick man in Bonthe. On New Year's eve I was given up 
to die, and I thought myself that I would die. During that 
night a French schooner came to Bonthe, upon which I was 
carried, and it left the next morning. When I came to realize 
my whereabouts I was on my way to Freetown. But for my 
having been put on the schooner and taken out upon the salt 
water, it is quite certain that I would have died. The 
schooner, in charge of colored men, was four days in getting 
to Freetown, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. 
Beating against head winds, and rolling and pitching as it 
did, caused my wife and me, who were the only passengers, 
to be very glad when the anchor was dropped in Freetown har- 

39 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

bor. Both of us were sick, tired, and hungry.. We remained in 
Freetown a couple of months, trying to recuperate our health. 
In the month of March, my physician told me he could not 
do anything more for me, and my only hope of recovery was 
in getting out of that country soon, which I and my wife did 
by taking passage on a sail vessel for New York the last day 
of March, 1856. While in Freetown I received from Bev. J. 
C. Bright, secretary of the Board of Missions, a letter author- 
izing me to purchase a house and lot for a home and recruit- 
ing place for our missionaries. This I did for the sum of 
$2,400. That was a good investment, but the property had to 
be sold some years afterward to get money to keep the mission 
going. 

We reached New York May 11, and proceeded to Wil- 
loughby, Ohio, the home of my wife's parents, where I was sick 
several days. I then went to Dayton, Ohio, and after a few 
weeks' rest I attended the meeting of the Board of Missions, 
held in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, early in the month of 
June. By this time my health was much improved. Getting 
away from the deadly malaria which had so prostrated me, 
and having a long voyage on a sail vessel, breathing the sea 
air, had done much to bring me back to health again. At the 
meeting in Mt. Pleasant I did a good deal of talking, ex- 
planatory of the condition and needs of the heathen, during 
the business sessions, and then one night was given me to 
lecture on Africa, and to show the idols and various curios 
which I had brought from that country. In explaining these 
things, I became so exhausted that I had to be helped to my 
boarding-place. By the first of July I was able to lecture on 
Africa every Sunday, and solicit money for missions during 
the week, which I did until conference met in September. 

Some of my experiences while thus employed, especially 
talking in behalf of African missions, were interesting. Going 
to lecture on Africa to a church which had about half a dozen 
men in it who were able to give one hundred dollars each, I 
felt that large sums must be secured. The plan of operating 

40 



In the Gospel Ministry 

was to get as many life members and life directors of the 
Missionary Society as possible, the former to pay ten dollars, 
and the latter fifty dollars each, the one to be paid in two 
yearly, and the other in five yearly installments, notes to be 
given for the total sums. One man who came to hear me lec- 
ture on Sunday morning, and from whom I expected fifty 
dollars, did not listen to me over fifteen minntes until he left 
the church, angr}^, saying as he passed out that he had not 
come there to hear a man talk about "niggers" in Africa, but 
to hear the gospel preached. Others there who were expected 
to give liberally were little more friendly to "niggers," but re- 
mained till the meeting closed. 

On Monday the man who was the most likely to make him- 
self and wife life directors was visited by me early in the 
morning, and all forenoon was spent trying to get his note for 
one hundred dollars. At noon he agreed to make it fifty 
dollars, and it was night before the note was secured for one 
hundred. The next forenoon - 1 got another one hun- 
dred-dollar note and one for fifty dollars before reaching 
the residence of the man who left the church on Sunday in 
anger because I was talking about "niggers." I arrived there 
just at noon, and met with a cool reception, they being at the 
dinner-table when I entered the house, but I was finally asked 
to stay for dinner and have my horse fed, which invitation I 
accepted. After dinner I went with the father and boys to 
the corn-field, and helped them hoe corn while talking African 
missions. All the afternoon was put in, and after supper, 
at family worship, I held a little class-meeting with the whole 
family, and at eleven o'clock that night wrote that man's 
note for twenty-five dollars, which he paid in a year. He con- 
tinued to pay to the mission as long as he lived. I stayed in 
that neighborhood until five hundred dollars were secured, 
which sum was reached on Thursday. I continued in this 
work until the end of my sixth year, when I attended the 
Miami Annual Conference with a view of being appointed to 
a field of labor. This was refused me on the ground that my 

41 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

services were needed by the Board of Missions for the African 
mission. Piqua mission church was left to be supplied, and to 
it the presiding elder appointed me just 'after the conference 
adjourned, and I moved my family there soon after. 



42 



CHAPTER VII. 

1856-57 — Pastor of a Mission Church — Sent to Africa — Seasickness— 
"The Go in It" — Secures Mission Site — Elected Missionary Secre- 
tary. 

This was an eventful year. Having been appointed to a 
poor mission, to which I resolved to give my best energies, I 
felt highly gratified at my prospects of being able to read 
good books, and to give myself fully to the work of the min- 
istry. At the end of six weeks I was summoned to Dayton, 
thirty miles from my charge, to meet the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Board of Missions. They informed me that they 
had started Eev. J. K. Billheimer and W. B. Witt, M.D., to 
Africa, that they were then in New York, expecting to sail 
in a few days, but they would recall them at once and give up 
the African mission, unless I would agree to accompany them 
to get a title to the site which had been selected for 
our mission headquarters, and initiate them into the work. 
This was Friday afternoon, and I could not reach home until 
that night at nine o'clock. Next day my trunk was packed, 
on Sunday I preached twice, taught a class in the Sunday 
school, received four members into Church, and on Monday 
morning at four o'clock took the train for Xew York City. 
During the six weeks spent on that city mission the congre- 
gations had doubled, and the people were much encouraged 
because they had a minister to live on the charge and be pres- 
ent at week-night prayer-meetings, and help them in the Sun- 
day school. 

Upon reaching Xew York, I found that the vessel upon 
which we were to sail had left, which permitted me to come 
back to Ohio and spend several weeks with my family. We 

43 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

sailed December 3, and reached Freetown, Sierra Leone, 
about the middle of January, 1857. 

The first week at sea was rough, and as I was the superin- 
tendent of the African mission, and had crossed the ocean 
before, I was elected to superintend the two brethren who were 
going to Africa as missionaries. There having been quite a 
strong wind the day before sailing, I got on my sea clothes 
as soon as aboard the vessel, and I advised the brethren to do 
the same before passing Sandy Hook, telling them that I 
would be seasick, and it was likely they would be as soon as we 
should be fully out to sea. One of them was so interested in 
looking at the forts and other objects of interest that he 
failed to get off his good clothes until he became very seasick. 

After I had heaved overboard most of the movable contents 
of my stomach, I ventured to go to see my comrades, and 
found the one all right, though suffering some with seasick- 
ness, but the other was in his berth with his good vest and 
trousers and boots on, having hung his beaver hat and best 
coat on pegs in his room. These had fallen onto the floor, 
owing to the rolling of the ship, and over them he had turned 
the contents of his stomach. The sight greatly increased my 
squeamishness, and I barely took time to say to him that his 
coat and hat were badly soiled, and his vest and pants would 
be if he did not get them off, and that I was too sick to help 
him, but would send the steward to do so. He replied that 
I did not need to trouble myself or any one else about his 
clothes, for, he expected to die and would not need clothes 
any more. He did not die, but had a big job to make that 
good suit of his look fit to wear after he got over his seasick- 
ness. 

Some years later I went from Liverpool to Freetown on a 
steamer, having a young Scotchman for a roommate. We 
were both very seasick, and had not been out of our berths 
for a couple of days. The Scotchman talking to himself one 
day said, "Dang the nasty thing ; if that port hole was large 
enough I would get into the salt water and drown the dang 

44 



In the Gospel Ministry 

thing." Soon after our steward came into the room with 
some chicken broth, telling ns that we had been there long 
enough, and must drink some of the broth and get up and 
go. on deck. I said to him I could not swallow any broth, 
but the steward pushed the bowl toward me and I took a 
mouthful, but instead of it going down my throat, it new 
out of my mouth as if shot out by a force pump. The steward 
escaped getting the broth in his face by a quick jump to one 
side, and it went clear across the stateroom, which satisfied 
him that there was one stomach aboard that would not allow 
food to enter it. Over twenty-five years ago an old lady took 
her first railroad ride, coming into Madison, Wisconsin, on 
the same car which carried me and others. .We had to wait 
there for a train about four hours. A frisky switch engine 
kept passing back and forth, which the woman watched 
closely. About midday it came to a standstill close to the 
depot, which was the old lady's opportunity. Adjusting her 
spectacles to see well, she went close to the engine and walked 
around it, scrutinizing it carefully. Unperceived by her, the 
engineer got on it from the opposite side from where she was, 
and suddenly pulled the lever, which started it off at a lively 
rate. In her surprise and with uplifted hands, she exclaimed, 
"Oh, I see now how it is ; that engine has the go in it I" Our 
steward on that steamer, and many others, and some by a 
sad experience, have learned that when persons are really 
seasick, their stomachs have the "go" in them. If everybody 
could manage that matter as well as a Frenchman did, who 
was a passenger with me on a sail vessel once, it would not 
be so terrible to be seasick. That man ate his meals regularly. 
At dinner the first course was soup, which he would eat, and 
then go on deck and. heave it overboard, and then he would 
eat the second course and do likewise, and return for the 
dessert. He said he paid for three meals a day, and it was 
his duty to eat them and nobody's business what he did with 
them afterward. 

The same vessel which carried me and my comrades to 

45 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Freetown, went on to Monrovia, Liberia. The captain offered 
me free passage to Monrovia, which I accepted. I spent 
three weeks there visiting the schools, witnessing the proceed- 
ings of the Liberian Congress, and mingling wifh the people 
generally. I went with the presiding elder of the Methodist 
Church to a mission station about thirty miles up the St. 
Paul Eiver. I also saw the Mulenburg mission farm on the 
same river, where the Lutherans were carrying on a manual 
labor enterprise in connection with schools and religious 
services, 

I obtained valuable information respecting the condition 
of the people, and especially the kinds of work to be done to 
enlighten and save them from the degraded state in which 
they were. I felt more than ever that the place for the United 
Brethren Church to work was in Sierra Leone, and returned' 
there to renew my efforts to secure a deed for land at Shenge 
to establish a mission station. By the help of Mr. D. W. 
Burton I got a bond from Mr. Caulker for fully one hundred 
acres of land, which proved to be a very desirable site for 
mission stations and headquarters for our mission in Africa. 

During my stay in Africa, J. K. Billheimer had a severe 
attack of fever. I being both his doctor and nurse, got him 
through safely, but oh, what faces he did make ! especially 
the second and fourth days, when I gave him five-grain doses 
of quinine every three hours. 

Having accomplished the work I went to do, I returned 
to the United States just in time to meet the Board of Mis- 
sions, and to attend the General Conference which met early 
in the month of May, 1857. At that Conference I was 
elected corresponding secretary of the Board of Mis- 
sions, in the place of Eev. J. C. Bright, .who had served in 
that capacity the previous four years. I felt that it was wrong 
for the General Conference not to reelect Mr. Bright, and 
tendered my resignation, which the board refused to accept. 
I therefore entered upon the work, and did more lecturing 
and soliciting of money than I was able to endure, resulting 

46 



In the Gospel Ministry 

in sickness which kept me from doing anything for four 
months, nearly ending my life. 

St. Paul once said, "For what I would, that I do not : but 
what I hate, that I do." Such was my experience during this 
year. I commenced it as a home missionary, then became a 
missionary in Africa, then was secretary of the board, and 
finally was pronounced so near to death that I would not 
live three months, which prediction was not fulfilled. 

It is said that a farmer once went to market with two 
crocks, one filled with apple butter, and the other with cottage 
cheese. He soon had customers for both, but had but one 
ladle to dip with. The one article was white, the other black ; 
and the use of the same ladle soon left traces of each upon 
the other, and finally they looked so much alike that he could 
not tell which jar had the smear-case and which the apple 
butter. My work for the year had been almost as badly 
mixed. 



47 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1857-58 — Disappointing the Doctors — Lecturing in German at a Penn 
sylvania Camp-meeting — An Experience — Saving the Credit of the 
Missionary Society. 

At the beginning of the eighth year of my ministry I was 
a very sick man. I had spent all of the month of August 
in Pennsylvania, where I attended four camp-meetings in 
two weeks, and held a number of special missionary meetings 
during the other two. I preached and lectured on Africa and 
solicited money for missions privately, securing about $3,000 
in cash and notes ; but overwork brought on a severe attack of 
sickness. After a month's illness I was able to reach my home 
in Ohio, where two doctors told me that I could not live over 
three months. They gave me no medicine, but told me to 
eat rye mush and milk, and drink water in which slippery elm 
bark had been soaked. Upon these I lived exclusively for a 
couple of months. Having been told in Africa once by a 
doctor that I could not live over night, and having made 
several narrow escapes from death on sea and land, I deter- 
mined to do my best to make those doctors false prophets. I 
soon began to gain in health, and at the end of three months 
I preached again, and have been doing that, and much other 
work, ever since. Since then I have been ten times to Africa, 
eight times to Germany, to California, Oregon, and Washing- 
ton twice, and to many other places in the United States 
a number of times. Going from the intense hot weather of 
Africa to the severe cold of Germany was an ordeal through 
which I passed several times, and which robust constitutions 
often do not endure without permanent injury. 

Foreign mission work was such a new thing among our 
people then and the habits of the people in Africa were so 

48 




REV. O. HADLEY 
Missionary to Africa 



In the Gospel Ministry 

strange, that a description of these greatly interested the 
Pennsylvanians. Great crowds attended my public addresses, 
and listened with ears and eyes to the descriptions and exhi- 
bitions I gave of their idols, articles of clothing, and other 
curios which I brought from Africa. 

Among the experiences I had to relate was that of my first 
Sunday spent in Africa, when I preached in a Wesleyan 
chapel. In the gallery were seated a number of raw heathen. 
Soon after I commenced preaching I saw a man with a long 
switch, or rod, passing around the gallery, and every no',r and 
then he struck some one. At least half a -dozen were thus 
treated during the thirty minutes I preached that day. As 
soon as the services closed I asked why that was done, and 
was told that the natives were apt to go to sleep or talk aloud, 
and the man was there with the rod to wake them up "and to 
make them be still. That man made more impressions on 
about a half a dozen people that day with his rod than my 
sermon. One young man jumped up and screamed quite loud 
when the rod was laid across his shoulders. 

There was another kind of flogging the Africans spoke of 
which they called "God flog." If any great evil befell an 
individual, or a community, they would say that such had 
caught "God flog," or "big God flog," meaning that a judg- 
ment had come upon them from God. Going up the Boom 
Eiver, the captain of my boat pointed to a place that was 
once a large town, but nearly deserted then, having been torn 
all to pieces by a tornado. He said, "Massa, that large, good 
town once, but it catch one big, big God flog, which nearly 
destroyed it, and killed plenty people." 

While laboring in the East, I attended a camp-meeting two 
miles north of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The people there were 
slow to respond to my solicitation for missionary mone}^ but 
promised me a good collection if I would lecture to them in 
German. I could speak a little German, and as they could 
not understand English well, being anxious to make five hun- 
dred dollars that Sabbath afternoon, I told them I would 

4 49 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

speak some German. When German words failed me I would 
use English. There was a large audience present, including 
lawyers, doctors, and ministers from Lebanon. Of course 
many things I told were amusing, and would have been so 
told in plain English, but as told in my broken German, sand- 
wiched with English, they were very funny. I sweat and 
did my best to make that congregation understand me. They 
laughed boisterously, and even Bishop Glossbrenner laughed 
until tears stood in his eyes. The five hundred dollars were 
all made up, but I vowed then and there never to deliver 
another English-German lecture on Africa. 

A well-dressed woman came to me at the close of the meet- 
ing, and asked me to deliver the lecture in the court-house 
in Lebanon, saying she would pay me fifty dollars cash if I 
would. She said it would be a big treat to the people there, 
especially if I would repeat what I said about being made a 
prisoner in Africa. Once afterward, in Westfield, Illinois, 
after I had delivered a lecture on Africa, under the auspices 
of the college authorities, I was offered fifty dollars by a man 
who had come ten miles to hear me, if I would go to his town 
and deliver the lecture. Had I not nearly frozen to death 
getting to Westfield, and should have had another similar 
cold ride to reach his town, I should have accepted his propo- 
sition. 

But how and why I was made a prisoner in Africa ought 
to be told here. It occurred about six weeks after I reached 
the Dark Continent the first time. I had followed a path 
leading to a devil-house in the woods, at which I stopped and 
took into my hand a beautiful, round stone, which was in the 
house. A naked boy close by, but unperceived by me, gave 
a hideous scream, and gesticulated vigorously. I put down 
the stone where I got it, and went to the town of Wela close 
by, where the mission boat and several other missionaries 
were. The head man there told the company that I had done 
a bad thing; that if one of their men had done what I did 
he would have been sold as a slave, and if one of their women 

50 



In the Gospel Ministry 

had done it, she would have been killed. He said I must pay 
plenty of mone} T , but as I had not been in the country long, 
and did not have good African sense yet, the sum would be less 
than if I had been there longer. Finally, the price of my re- 
lease was agreed upon r to be paid in goods we had with us to 
buy provisions with, except a piece of silver the headman said 
he must have to appease the anger of the devil, who, he said, 
was very angry because I had interfered with the contents of 
the devil-house. Another missionary, who had been in the 
country longer than I, became my advocate, and he told me 
not to give any silver, for if I did it would have to be repeated 
every time I went to that town. My attorney in the case 
offered to give a bar of lead which we had with us, and after 
a long time the headman agreed to take it, and proceeded to 
show the crowd how he would fool the devil. Having a knife 
in his right hand, he took the bar of lead in the other, and 
then showed how he would cut the surface off, and make the 
lead shine "all the same like silver," and the devil would not 
know the difference. They all laughed heartily when shown 
how Satan was to be made to believe that lead was silver. 

My severe sickness, from which the doctors said I could not 
recover, so prostrated me that I resigned my office, and Mr. 
Bright, my predecessor, became my successor. By request of 
the executive committee, I visited Pennsylvania in the spring 
of 1858, and held a number of missionary meetings and at- 
tended the annual meeting of the Board of Missions, which 
met there. During June, July, and August, I supplied a cir- 
cuit near Dayton, there being a vacancy. In the meantime. Mr. 
Bright' s health became poor, and he refused the secretaryship. 
I was urged to take it, which finally I did, and continued in 
the office for twenty-eight consecutive years, except the few 
months -during which I was sick, as has already been stated. 

In the autumn of 1857, in New York, I contracted for a 
house to be made ready there to set up when it reached 
Africa. Just at the time I was so very sick in Pennsylvania 
the money became due, being over $1,000, and this had to be 

51 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

borrowed in bank in Dayton for ninety days. Before the ex- 
piration of that time there was great stringency in the money 
market, and none was to be had anywhere. A German friend 
of mine agreed that if I would give my personal note and a 
mortgage on my home, he would give- me eight hundred dol- 
lars he had in bank. This was done and the Missionary So- 
ciety's paper was kept from going to protest. There was a 
debt of about seven thousand dollars against the Missionary 
Society when I was first elected secretary, which, with the 
great stringency of the money market for the next few years, 
made it hard to keep our missionaries in the field. The sec- 
retary had all the work to do, as the treasurer only held the 
funds of the society, receiving no salary therefor. Sometimes 
it was very hard work to keep the ship afloat, and the officers 
of the Board felt exceedingly sorry when missionaries could 
not be paid promptty. 



f>2 



CHAPTER IX. 

1858-59 — Dealing with the Annual Conferences — Hardest Work — 
Spirit of the South — Some Incidents. 

I commenced the ninth year of niy ministerial life feeling 
that I was to be Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Mis- 
sions. The General Conference having refused to accept my 
resignation and the Executive Committee having relieved me 
only because of ill health, it looked as though it were my duty 
to accept the responsibilit}', though I felt my inability to do 
the work successfully. 

One thing that made the secretaryship a very responsible, 
delicate, and difficult work at that time was the fact that the 
self-supporting conferences were doing considerable home 
missionary work, and they had the right to determine by vote, 
annually, what proportion of the missionary money the pas- 
tors collected should go to the Board of Missions, and what 
they would retain for home missions. I will never forget 
some of the hard contests I passed through to get a reasonable 
share of the money for the frontier and the foreign missions 
of the Church, which the Board were responsible for. At one 
of the eastern conferences I was appointed as fifth man on 
the committee on missions by the presiding officer. The com- 
mittee met at night without giving me notice of the meeting, 
and told me next morning that I must submit to their report, 
for they had nearly all the conference on their side. The re- 
port was read soon after the session opened. It proposed to 
give to the Board only the amount which might be left after 
paying their home misssionaries, which would be about one- 
eighth of their collections for missions. I remarked to the 
conference that I had not been notified of the meeting of the 
committee. I went on to show what a large and important 

53 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

work the Board had on the frontiers of our country, and what 
a great mission field it had entered in Africa, and that they 
ought not retain more than two-thirds of the money, and that 
the other third should go to the destitute people of the great 
West and of Africa, especially as the Board had to pay a sec- 
retary and to meet all contingent expenses of the Missionary 
Society. I plead so earnestly that finally four of the younger 
members of that conference came round to my view, one of 
whom moved and another seconded the motion to amend the 
report so as to give the Board one-third. The whole forenoon 
was consumed in discussing that question, and just before ad- 
journing for dinner the vote was taken, which gave the Board 
one : third, making a difference of several hundred dollars in 
its favor. Much religious fighting had to be done to over- 
come the selfishness and covetousness of some people, and to 
teach them that Christians on earth had more to do than to 
sing and pray and get happy, and that a solemn obligation 
rested on them to send the gospel to the destitute and heathen, 
by giving money to build up the kingdom of God in all the 
earth. 

My hardest work in behalf of missions was not done in Af- 
rica. I suffered most there with sickness, but did my hardest 
work in America to convert Christians from the error of their 
way, and to show them their duty to the heathen. For years, as 
secretary, I preached and lectured on Africa from sixty to 
eighty times annually, attended from eight to ten annual con- 
ferences, wrote several hundred letters, and edited the Mis- 
sionary Visitor, which was issued semi-monthly. 

During my previous experiences as an itinerant, I was pre- 
paring for the ministry while in the ministry. Now I was 
learning how to be a secretary while doing the work of the 
secretaryship. Mingling with so many ministers at the an- 
nual conferences, and with all the bishops, and having my 
office in the printing establishment of the Church in Dayton, 
Ohio, coming in contact with the editors of the Church papers, 
and the Publishing Agent, as well as the members of the 

54 



In the Gospel Ministry 

different Church boards, gave me excellent opportunities to 
learn and understand many things which had some relation 
to my work, and which I needed to know to make missions 
a success in the Church. 

The peculiarities of some prominent men and their methods 
were a study to me. One who was appointed one year pre- 
viously to preach the annual sermon at the meeting of the 
Board, himself being a member, did not decide what his text 
was to be until quite late on Saturday evening, when the ser- 
mon was to be preached next day at ten o' clock. He slept 
little and kept me awake most of that night reading from a 
sheet of foolscap scribbled all over, then adding other items 
on another sheet of paper, asking me whether that was the 
kind of preaching needed. This was the way one of the most 
eloquent ministers in the Church prepared an annual sermon, 
and it cost me some work to get scraps of it together for the 
printer, as that sermon was printed in the proceedings of the 
Board, as all annual sermons were then. 

As illustrative of the intolerant spirit existing in the South 
at that time, I reproduce the following, taken from the Knox- 
ville, Tenn., Whig, edited by Rev. Mr. Brownlow. It ap- 
peared in October, 1858, and was copied extensively in the 
South. The heading of the article was, "Look Out for an 
Abolitionist." "Rev. John Ruebush, a missionary of the 
United Brethren, is laboring in east Tennessee, and is a very 
popular man among negroes. He is the agent for the sale of 
divers books and publications, hailing from Dayton, Ohio, 
among them 'Lawrence on Slavery/ c Uncle Tom's Cabin/ and 
such infamous publications. It is astonishing that a mission- 
ary of this stripe, hailing from that quarter with books, should 
be tolerated in east Tennessee. We hope this man, and his 
associates, may run off half of the negroes in the counties 
where they labor. This would bring the citizens to their 
senses." 

The writer put this into his report to the Board of Missions 
at the annual meeting. Such a spirit of proscription, from 

55 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

a minister of the gospel, shows what our missionaries in the 
slave States had to contend with. One really wonders if such 
people were in their right mind. A member of the General 
Conference of 1881 arose and said, "Mr. President, I wish to 
inquire whether I am in my right mind." Everybody laughed, 
and the presiding officer remarked that he could not just then 
answer the brother's question. The brother meant to ask, 
whether he had the right view concerning a certain measure 
which had been before that body. A German minister in ex- 
horting after an excellent English sermon, said, "The brother 
told the truth, the whole truth, and more than the truth." 
He simply meant that the arguments in favor of Christianity 
were stronger than necessary to convince reasonable people 
of its truthfulness; but being a German, he used the wrong 
words to express himself. 

A minister was holding a meeting in a new place in a 
schoolhouse. One night a number went forward and knelt 
at the anxious seat; among them was a young man whose 
father was opposed to Christianity, and especially to such ex- 
ercises. While the minister was kneeling and praying, the 
father went to his son and took hold of him to force him away. 
The minister suddenly closed his prayer and expostulated 
with the father to let his son alone until the meeting closed. 
The man became furious and used profane language, where- 
upon the minister took him by the back of his neck and seat 
of his trousers, and carried him to the door of the school- 
house and pitched him out, saying as he returned, that Christ 
when upon earth had cast out devils, and he knew of no 
reason why he should not do the same thing. That minister 
had been a professional boxer and fighter before his conver- 
sion, and was a strong man physically and ministerially. 
That man, whom the writer knew quite well, solved that 
rather serious question quite as easily, and showed fully as 
much good sense in doing so as did the Virginia slave in 
solving the following question : 

56 



In the Gospel Ministry 

One morning, as Judge C , of Virginia, was starting 

for town, lie was approached by one of his negroes, who, with 
more or less confusion, asked : "Massa, when yo' goes to the 
co't-house will yo' git me a license ? Fse gwine to he marked. 
Git my license, massa?" Returning, the judge said: "Sam, 
you old fool, you didn't tell me who you want to marry, but 
I remembered how you're always courting Lucinda, and got 
the license in her name." "Lawd, massa !" exclaimed Sam, 
"'taint Lucindy; it's Kyarline. What's I gwine to do?" 
"Well/ 5 said the judge, "the only thing will be for me to get 
another license." "Massa," said Sam, "do yo' pay anyt'ing 
fur dat license ?" "Yes, Sam, a dollar and seventy-five cents." 
"Will another license cos' anyt'ing?" said Sam. "Yes, Sam, 
a dollar and seventy-five cents more," replied the judge. 
After scratching his woolly pate for a few minutes, Sam re- 
plied : "Well, massa, I done axed Kyarline an' she said 'Yase,' 
but dere ain't no dollar an' seventy-five cents' diffunce in dem 
two niggers, so I'll jus' take Lucindy." 

It is said that a raw foreigner hired himself to a farmer, 
who put him to plowing. He went with him to the field and 
told him to draw a furrow to the other side to where a heifer 
was standing, supposing, as a matter of course, that he would 
return along that furrow, and then plow back and forth, as is 
usually done. After a couple of hours he went out again to 
see how his man was getting on, when to his surprise he found 
him following that heifer, which was walking here and there 
through the field. My crossing from one incident to another 
in this narrative may seem a little like that young man's 
plowing. 



57 



CHAPTER X. 

1859-60— Hard Times— "A Good Deal for Twenty-five Cents"— Mis- 
sionary Telescope — The Bishop Severe. 

Owing to the stringency of money matters and the: debt 
against the Missionary Society, I accepted work at the Miami 
Annual Conference in September 1859, and was elected pre- 
siding elder of the Dayton District, which had eleven- fields 
of labor. A couple of the pastors on the district assisted me 
in doing the work of the Secretary, all of which was done 
gratuitously. In that way the Missionary Society had no out- 
lay of money for administration, except for stationery, post- 
age, etc. The times were really hard and the people not ac- 
customed to give largely, and the only way to keep the 
missionaries in the field was to divide among them all the 
money that was collected for missions, spending as little as 
possible for contingent expenses. 

Few people will give as did the poor preacher, who on a 
cold Saturday met a girl on the street, who stretched out her 
hand, saying, "Sir, give me something to get food for mamma ; 
she is sick." Seeing she was poorly clad and emaciated and 
in real need, he felt like giving her something, but all he had 
was twenty-five cents, and that was in one piece of money. 
He hesitated a moment, but finally he gave it to her and went 
on his way. The following week, while at his desk preparing 
a sermon for the next Sunday, he suddenly and unexpectedly 
became very happy. As he had not been praying, or in any 
way seeking for such ecstasy, he wondered why he should 
feel so happy, when he remembered giving that girl the 
only money he had the Saturday before; then through his 
tears he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "0 my Lord, 
that's a good deal for twenty-five cents !" He realized that 
"it is more blessed to give than to receive." Another illustra- 

58 



In the Gospel Ministry 

tion of the good coming to the giver is the case of a bachelor 
whose health was poor, and who concluded to commit suicide 
and end his sufferings. He had started to go to the river to 
drown himself, when he met a beggar girl who said, "Please 
give me some money to buy food and medicine for my sick 
mother." As he was on his way to drown himself, he con- 
cluded to give her all the money he had with him. She 
thanked him and started away happy. He then felt like 
going to see what the money would do, and went with the 
girl to an alley and up a rickety stairway in an old building 
to the fourth story, and there in a room found a woman lying 
on some straw, to whom the girl said, "0 mamma, see what 
this gentleman gave me !" holding the money out so she could 
see it. That poor dying woman and hungry girl were so 
happy that they thanked him over and over for his gift. Then 
as he was starting off to go to the river, it came to him that 
if giving money made people as happy as that, he had better 
give all the money he had to poor people before ending his 
life. After distributing it to the poor, the thought came to 
him that though he did not care to live for himself, it would 
be a good thing to live to help others, and he concluded not 
to commit suicide. 

One very embarrassing matter in the management of the 
Missionary Society- was the fact that the Missionary Telescope; 
organ of the Missionary Society, which was established by the 
former Secretary, was promised gratis to all life members and 
life directors of that society. This required an annual outlay 
of five hundred dollars more than was realized from sub- 
scribers who paid for it, and it had to be discontinued. If 
all who got it had paid the small sum it cost, it would have 
given me an excellent medium to promote the cause of mis- 
sions among the people. 

I and the brethren who helped me do the work of the Mis- 
sionary Society kept all going well for that one year. 
Generally it is no reproach to be poor, but for a missionary 
society to have an empty treasury when Christians have an 

59 



Fifty-live Years of Active Life 

abundance to keep it well filled, is both a reproach and sin. 
I held forty-three quarterly meetings and would have held 
the forty-fourth, the last one for the year, but I was called 
to go to Nebraska and then to Iowa, to hold two conferences 
for an afflicted bishop. I returned barely in time to meet my 
conference, where the bishop criticised my report because it 
was not more complete. Others who had not been hurried all 
year, as I was, were as severely taken to task. Just before 
finishing the business of the conference on Saturday evening, 
a leading member of it said to the bishop that many felt that 
he had been severe in exacting from them annually complete 
reports, and asked him to pour a little oil on the troubled 
waters. The bishop replied that he would leave them on 
Monday morning for a year, and he hoped that their work 
would be so well done that there would be no need of his 
finding fault again, and that was all the comfort we got from 
him. It was true that the pastors did faithful work the next 
year, and. no fault was found by that bishop at the next an- 
nual gathering of Miami Conference. His course reminds 
one of the Irishman who hired to a farmer to drive his four- 
horse team, and was put to hauling stone. In going through 
a very deep mud-hole he applied the whip to Dick, who was 
the leader, leaving the other three horses without any in- 
centive to work. Being asked why he whipped Dick, who 
always pulled his best, he replied that it was no use to whip 
horses which did not pull. Willing workers are whipped some- 
times simply because they do pull well. 

The bishop's criticism reminds me of the reprimand given 
by a bishop for wearing a beard. The man rebuked asked the 
bishop whether it was any more harm to wear hair on the 
under part of his head than on top, when the hair grew there 
naturally. Another very bald man, with a heavy beard, asked 
if it really was wicked to have hair on the lower part, and 
none on top of his head, and if so, what he was to do. That 
bishop lived long enough to see the folly of his notions, and 
he wore a heavy beard for some years before he died. 

GO 



In the Gospel Ministry 

There was a colored minister who preached on the text, 
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered/' who said, 
that if they had a microscope they could see the number on 
the end of every hair they had. A smart young fellow who 
thought he would annoy his school-teacher, came to her with 
a hair and asked her to tell what the number of it was. She 
told him that was number one, and then pulling a 
bunch of hair out of his head, she began counting, showing 
him numbers two, three, four, five, etc., and asked him 
if he wanted to know anything more about the numbers on 
the hairs of his head, but he was satisfied. 

The Board of Missions, at its meeting in 1859, had appro- 
priated certain sums to all the mission, conferences, a part of 
which they were to collect within their own bounds, some 
appropriations being $500 and $200, which they were to col- 
lect themselves. At the end of the year not only had the 
Missionary Society failed to pay its part fully, but these con- 
ferences had failed to collect a part of their portion also. 
The president of a college and the editor of our Church paper, 
both good debaters, at the annual meeting in 1860 had an 
exceedingly spirited discussion on the question as to how 
much they had used. 

The one added the sum the Board had paid to the amount 
the conference was to raise itself, and made the amount look 
respectable. The other took what the Board had paid, and 
added what had actually been collected in the conference, and 
the sum was considerably less. That debate was very amusing. 

There was a man there who was a trustee of a college, and 
who was a great advocate of manual labor in connection with 
college study. He made a speech declaring that the only thing 
for the missionaries who failed to get money to live on to do 
was to engage in "emanuel labor." He always used the word 
"emanuel" instead of "manual. 7 '* 



ei 



CHAPTER XI. 

1860-61 — Lecturing on Missions — Great Success in the Frontier — 
"White-Man Fashion" — Throwing the Teacher. 

Owing to the continued hard times, making it well nigh 
impossible to enlarge collections for missions in the ordinary 
waj, and the fact that what was secured was divided between 
the Board and the annnal conferences by the vote of the con- 
ferences every year, the home missionaries being voters and 
present to plead their own wants, the Board was always at 
a disadvantage. This caused me to strive hard to reach men 
of wealth who could give large sums, hoping in that way not 
only to get money for present needs, but by bequest and other 
forms of obligation to provide for the future. With that end 
in view, I spent much time lecturing on missions, especially 
showing the great needs of Africa, and wrote a good deal for 
the Church papers, pleading with God and man for more mis- 
sionary money. Other friends of missions, especially some of 
the members of the Board, also spoke publicly and wrote and 
prayed in behalf of deliverance from our missionary debt and 
for more financial ability to keep missionaries at work. Thank 
God ! these united labors and prayers were not in vain. Help 
did come by the gift of about one thousand acres of land, 
from two members of our Church, which was worth more than 
the debt, but could not be turned into cash at that time with- 
out great loss, owing to the financial stringency. I also in- 
fluenced a man, who lived neighbor to me once, to will to the 
society a farm and a house and lot, which some years later 
brought to the Missionary treasury about $14,000. Enough 
cash was realized to reduce the debt from $7,000 to $5,000 
during this year. 

62 



In the Gospel Ministry 

One thing which greatly helped to accomplish these results 
was the excellent success onr missionaries had in the frontier 
department of onr work. There was a wonderful spirit of 
revival attending their labors. In several instances the mis- 
sionaries wrote that they must turn aside and do something- 
else to secure a living, for they could not possibly live on the 
pittance they were receiving, but they did. Like the boy who 
whistled in school, and upon being reprimanded, said, "It 
just whistled itself," so some of our missionaries were in the 
midst of great revivals which would not allow them to cease 
their labors. True, they and their families lived poorly 
enough, but they got along, and G-od blessed them greatly. 
The Board and its missionaries tried to retrench, but God's 
salvation was poured out upon the people abundantly, and 
they went forward, despite their efforts to go the other way. 
In the ten mission conferences there were over three thousand 
accessions to the Church during the year. President Lincoln 
said that in the middle of the river was a poor place to trade 
horses. In the midst of the great success of this year it was 
exceedingly difficult to retrench or lessen the work attempted. 
Notwithstanding the condition of our treasury made it look 
as though it must be done, it was not done. There was another 
condition which made it well nigh impossible to diminish our 
efforts. We had missionaries in Kentucky and Tennessee who 
were greatly persecuted on account of our anti-slavery views. 
We could not abandon them and do right. It looked as if we 
were held by Providence to stick to the work. On our frontier 
missions there were ten thousand accessions to the Church 
and in the entire denomination there were 33,054 in the four 
years ending May, 1861. There are times when religious mat- 
ters do so impress people that they cannot be satisfied with- 
out, in some way, showing their interest in the matter. 



In Africa, some natives thought that dressing "white man 
fashion" is to be a Christian. We had a man of that kind 

63 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

in our employ as captain of the mission boat. He first got 
a pair of white trousers and put them -on ; then next day a 
check shirt; a couple of days later red-topped boots and a 
silk hat were secured. He was from Monday until Saturday 
getting the outfit, and on Sunday, just after I read my text, 
he entered the chapel and passed the whole length of the house 
to the pulpit. He tucked the pants inside the boots to show 
the red tops; he had his shirt outside of his trousers to be 
cool, and the hat was worn at an angle of about forty-five 
degrees on his head. Thus he had turned white man, and as 
such, sat on the seat in the pulpit during the service. 

Having been detained in Freetown by a slight fever one 
whole day and night, I had this same man for my night nurse. 
When we got back to Shenge, he ran to the house to Mr. 
Gromer and said: "Massa been sick too much this time; he 
just lef little bit for die." Simply because he had to stay 
with me one night to give me water and medicine, he thought 
I "lef ' little bit for die." 

When about eight years old, I and a chum of mine, a year 
older, were given as our first reading lesson in school, the 
first chapter of Genesis, one-half for the forenoon and the 
other half for the afternoon. The teacher was a feeble old 
man who used the ruler a good deal to make the scholars 
study and behave. We were told that the chapter had to be so 
well studied that we could read it without miscalling any 
words. There were no first, second, and third readers then. 
As that chapter had thirty-one verses, we were somewhat per- 
plexed to find the half-way place in it, and we feared to ask 
our teacher lest he would answer by hitting us with the ruler, 
a way he had of answering his scholars not unfrequently. We 
made an earnest effort to do as we were told, but, alas, we 
made some mistakes while reading in the forenoon and got 
our hands well warmed with the ruler, which the teacher 
nearly always had in his hand. We resolved to study in the 
afternoon and do our best, but decided that if he attempted to 
use the ruler on us when reciting again we would grab 

64 



In the Gospel Ministry 

his legs and throw him down, which we did, he coming 
down upon the puncheon floor pretty hard. After throwing 
the teacher on the floor we ran out and down a steep bank 
to the creek near by, where we knew he could not follow us. 
He came there and called us to come back, which we told him 
we would not do unless he agreed to cease striking us with 
that ruler. He did not promise then, but before he dismissed 
school that evening he said he would not punish us if we 
returned, nor did he. TTe continued to go to school and 
finally did learn to read the first chapter of Genesis, and 
others in the old Book. That ruler was used less afterwards 
on others, as well as ourselves, and we were assured of help 
to down the old teacher again unless he quit his cruelty. 
That was the first real missionary work I helped plan and ex- 
ecute, and it did not only the teacher good, but the school, 
for we got on well afterward. 

In the same schoolhouse, several years later, another 
teacher hit me very hard with a four-foot switch, when going 
to the water-bucket for a drink, saying, "I will teach you how 
to walk and not make noise/' My father was a director and 
I told him how I had been treated. He went to the school- 
house the next morning and turned up a couple of slabs of the 
floor and pulled out a jug of whisky, and then waited till the 
teacher came, when he emptied the jug, and told the teacher 
that if there was any more complaints of his punishing pupils 
for nothing he would be dismissed. That was another little 
piece of missionary work I did, and it worked grandly, for 
that teacher was all right when not under the influence of 
whiskv : and he never was again while he tausrht that school. 



G5 



CHAPTER XII. 

1861-62 — Goes to Freetown — Dealing With English Law — Anti- 
Slavery Money — Drunken Captain — Encounters a Gale. 

This was another eventful year. The debt of the Mission- 
ary Society had again increased from $5,000 to 
$7,000. The only hope of being able to continue the African 
mission was to sell the Freetown property, which had been 
bought for an acclimating and health-recruiting station for 
missionaries. Our missionary in charge of that work had 
found a purchaser, but when he came to make the deed a 
defect in the title was found, which caused -the purchaser to 
decline to take it. With the hope that I might sell it, and 
thus get money to pay the debts against the mission, and put 
things in shape to continue the work, the Executive Committee 
requested me to go to Africa the third time. I sailed from 
New York City the first of November, and returned the fol- 
lowing April. I succeeded, after much effort, in selling the 
house in Freetown and paid all the debts against the mission, 
amounting to three hundred and seventy dollars. I also 
bought a canoe for the native missionary, which he much 
needed, and supplied him with money to hold the fort an- 
other year. 

The first vessel that reached Freetown from England after 
I arrived, brought the rumor that England had declared war 
against the United States, which not only greatly militated 
against the sale' of our property in Freetown, but kept me 
from realizing any cash until a good deed was delivered to 
the purchaser, signed by every member of our Board of Mis- 
sions. My contract was to get one-half down, but the lawyer 
advised the purchaser to pay nothing before such a deed was 
furnished him. Had our local trustee done his duty, and had 
the deed been made right at first, much trouble and expense 

66 



In the Gospel Ministry 

would have been saved. It was necessary to have a local 
trustee to hold that property for our Board in America, and 
he, through carelessness or otherwise, had gotten the matter 
into good shape for the property to revert to the Crown of 
England. AVe being so poor, and England so rich, made such 
a possibility painful to contemplate. Never while memory 
lasts can I forget the patience, perseverance, and shrewdness 
I had to practise, and the painful emotions which I endured, 
because of the many difficulties in the way of getting a deed, 
though I had a power of attorney to sell and convey the 
property. 

Another difficulty confronted me. If war should be declared 
by England against the United States, it would be best for me 
to leave soon, or I might not get away at all, and my 
belongings might be confiscated. My best friends advised me 
to leave as soon as possible, which I did, after all was in shape 
to sell the property and get the money to apply to prosecu- 
tion of African missions. Truly, God helped me to bring about 
that which seemed impossible for a time, and saved our 
Church from abandoning Africa. 

I paid the entire expense of that trip to Africa and back 
on sail vessels, which, however, was a small matter in com- 
parison to the discomfort and sufferings which I endured. 
On my way out, a fearful gale filled my cabin with water, 
and on my way home, an equally severe storm was en- 
countered. Then the ship was short of provisions on the 
home voyage. For two weeks the only food we had was 
wormy bread, "sow belly/ 5 as the sailors called it, and black 
coffee. The captain and crew were very profane, and their 
only passenger was much neglected. 

Another remarkable occurrence, or gracious providence, I 
should call it, was this : Just after I returned from Africa, 
M. W. Blanchard, of Kentuck} T , came into my office at Day- 
ton, Ohio, to tell me that he had several thousand dollars 
of missionary money, and that he had heard that the United 
Brethren in Christ was an anti-slavery church, and wished to 

67 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

know how that was. A Discipline was shown him with our 
anti-slavery clause in it, and he was assured that we lived 
up to its requirements, absolutely keeping all slave-holders 
out of the Church. This led to his paying our treasurer 
two thousand dollars then, and caused him to send 
more, so that in all we received $4,200 from him. Truly God 
had heard our people, who had prayed that our missions in 
Africa and in America should not perish for lack of money 
to keep them going. 

About that time a Mr. Lane, of Illinois, gave our Board of 
Missions land valued at $4,250, and transferred to it notes 
amounting to $10,007.34. This was not made available for 
several years, and some of it was never received, but it gave 
the society a financial basis, or credit, which it had not be- 
fore, as it had no assets to put against its standing debt of 
$7,000. These evidences of God's superintending providence 
greatly encouraged me. My course had been very severely 
criticised and my motives impugned. I was charged by some 
with going to Africa simply to make pleasure trips, and by 
others with attempting the impossible to save "niggers." : 

That third trip to Africa was a very trying one in many 
respects. I shipped to go direct to Freetown, but was first 
taken to Goree, and the vessel remained there and at Bathurst 
so long that I took steamer from Bathurst, which cost extra. 
It was while waiting in Goree that I was asked to baptize a 
white baby, whose parents were English. I did so in the usual 
way, making a short prayer before going through the cere- 
mony of applying the water to the child's head. The brevity 
of the service, and the little ceremony used, evidently dis- 
appointed the parents, and they showed their dissatisfaction. 
As I was leaving the house I overheard the mother say to the 
father, "Oh, well, that will do until we get to England, which 
will be in a few months, and then we will have the baby bap- 
tized aright." It was a poor, feeble-looking creature, as most 
white children are that are born in western Africa, less than 
six months old, and might not have lived to reach England. 

G8 



In the Gospel Ministry 

The couple were quite as much disappointed as was a young 
woman, whose marriage ceremony I performed soon after I 
began preaching. Her husband, just before the ceremony, 
asked me to make it short, as they did not wish to be on the 
floor long. It was so short that it was all over within less 
than a minute, including a prayer at the close, when they 
were told to be seated. The woman turned to her husband 
and asked him, "Is that all that is to be done?" It was all 
that was done, except to extend to them congratulations, and 
eat a good supper, after which I left to preach that night at a 
place several miles away, the wedding being at six o'clock. 

When our ship left G-oree harbor for Bathurst, the captain 
being quite drunk, got his feet entangled with some rope 
coiled on the deck of the vessel, causing him to stumble 
around for a time. His pet dog thought he was playing, and 
joined in the sport with all his might. This made the cap- 
tain swear like a sailor, and taking hold of the dog he threw 
him into the hold of the vessel, hurting him considerably. 
That. captain and his steward, who did all the cooking, were 
both heavily armed, and had not spoken to each other after 
the first week out from Xew York, then over a month. The 
captain was afraid of the cook, and the cook of the captain. 
He did his work as well as ocean cooks usually do on sail 
vessels. I was the only passenger the vessel had, there being, 
all told, nine of us aboard. 

Eeturning home on a sail vessel, we encountered 
a fearful gale just as we got across the Gulf Stream, 
which carried us several hundred miles out of our course, and 
drifted us near to the Bermuda Islands. While at dinner, a 
large wave knocked in the bulwark of the vessel on one side, 
and put over six inches of water into our cabin where we were 
dining. The captain had just come to the table from his bed 
and was in his stocking feet. He, the first mate, and I were 
the only ones at the table, as again I was the only passenger 
aboard. Leaving the table we all went to the door of the 
cabin, when the captain said, "I will run her to hell." I then 

69 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

said, "Captain, we may be nearer that place than you sup- 
pose/' which caused him to cease his profanity, and never 
until we reached Philadelphia did he utter oaths again in my 
hearing. That man charged $100 to bring me from Freetown 
to Philadelphia, and so starved was I that it took me two 
weeks to get over feeling hungry. We landed at four in the 
afternoon, when I went to a restaurant and ate some. I again 
ate at six, taking a train for Pittsburg at that time ; then I 
ate at midnight in Harrisburg, again next morning at Al- 
toona, and so kept it up for two weeks, never eating till I 
was satisfied, for fear that it would injure me. I had a la- 
borer in Africa once who climbed a large tree and tore skin 
about the size of a silver dollar off his breast. I paid him all 
he asked extra for that hazardous undertaking. He then 
showed me how he had rubbed the skin off his breast, and 
said, "Massa, please give me two or, three crackers to mend 
that place." He got the crackers as soon as we got where 
they were at the mission house, and that sore spot was healed 
thereby and his stomach gratified. 



70 



CHAPTER XIII. 

1862-63 — Civil War — Threaten the Abolitionist Preacher — Authorize 
Work Among the Freedmen — Visit to President Lincoln — The 
President's Reply to Doctor Davis. 

When I entered upon the thirteenth year of my ministerial 
life, the Civil War of 1861-1865 was at its height. During 
that year the great battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg were 
fought. Besides my usual labors as secretary I did some cir- 
cuit preaching, to supply vacancies made by some of the itin- 
erants in the Miami Conference who went to war,, and others 
whose labors were interrupted by the war. It required close 
attention upon the part of ministers to keep church work 
intact at home and to induce them to give missionary money 
even up to their former low standard.. 

I was then a member of a church just outside of the city 
of Dayton, Ohio, which had in it some bitter anti-war people, 
and who were very stingy at best. I was told at the close of 
a week-night prayer-meeting, by a sister member, that such 
praying as I and the pastor were doing, and the things 
preached, had brought on the war, and that she was deter- 
mined not to hear any more such preaching or pray- 
ing. She soon got over that foolish threat, and did 
hear us both pray for victory for our armies, and 
for the freedom of the slave. I then lived about 
two miles west of the court-house of Dayton, and 
my children went to a country school, in which were the chil- 
dren of some very bitter secessionists. One night my second 
son, then about eleven years of age, came from the school 
greatly agitated, because another boy had told him that his 
father and others were going to come to our house to clean 

out that d abolitionist preacher, meaning myself. It so 

happened that I had to go from home that night. The 

71 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

boy's uncle, who was then a cavalryman in Kentucky, had 
captured an excellent douhle-barrel shot-gun, and sent it to 
his nephew. Busy as I was that evening preparing to leave 
home on a night train to be gone several days, I took time 
to clean up that gun and shoot it a few times to see that it 
worked all right, and to show my wife how to load and fire 
it, and what she had better do if she heard footsteps 
on the porch or at the front door, or if there should be an 
effort to force an entrance into the house. I left the family 
alone feeling that all would be well, and sure that if an at- 
tack was made the party doing so would get the worst of it. 
Dayton at that time and until after Mr. Vallandigham, a 
rank secessionist, was sent inside the rebel lines, was the hot- 
bed of secessionists, and more than once bloodshed was threat- 
ened, and if such had been precipitated by some overt act, 
blood, no doubt, would have been shed freely. 

I heard an old preacher tell once that he fell into company 
with another traveler crossing the Alleghany Mountains, both 
on horseback. Toward evening, w T hen at a lonely spot, the 
stranger pointed a pistol at him and said, "Your money or 
your life !" The preacher quickly drew the pistol from him, 
and held it over his head to strike him, when he called out, 
"Don't do so, for that pistol is empty and I only wanted to 
scare you a little." Said the preacher : "How could I know 
whether your pistol was loaded or empty, and how could I 
know whether you were in fun or earnest ? I ought to knock 
you off of your horse yet, just to teach you a little sense, and 
would do so were I not a preacher." That man saw his folly 
and made an apology. 

The following taken from my report, made to the Board 
of Missions in May, 1863, will show to some extent the state 
of things then : "Meeting at a time when a most wicked re- 
bellion is exhausting the energies of this country, filling the 
land with devastation and mourning, it is fit to call to remem- 
brance the unfaltering adherence of our fathers to the prin- 
ciples of right, especially in their firm opposition to that sin 

72 



In the Gospel Ministry 

which has so justly brought upon our nation the judgment 
of Almighty God. For more than forty years we have re- 
fused membership to slaveholders ; because of this many have 
turned from us, and we have been subjected to much oppo- 
sition and injustice, especially in the slave States. Xo one 
now doubts the wisdom of our fathers in preferring right to 
members and popularity. The progress the nation is making 
in breaking the shackles of the enslaved is a reward for all 
that has been suffered and for the sacrifices we may yet have 
to make before the terrible struggle ends." At that same 
meeting, the following resolutions were adopted : "1. That we 
commence a mission among the Freedmen. 2. That in con- 
nection with this work we will do all we can for the destitute 
whites in the South. 3. That an appropriation of $400 be 
made, and the appointment of a man, and that the further 
interests of this work be referred to the executive committee." 
Owing to the fact that the Board had already more mission 
work on hand than it could well provide for, there was a hesi- 
tancy to undertake more. I proposed to give $200 of the 
$400 asked, which I did, and the other was made by special 
collections, and an excellent work was commenced. This was 
continued for a couple of years and then was turned over to 
the Freedmams Mission, an organization which did a great 
and good work in the South, but no better than the United 
Brethren Church did while it worked there. 

In August of this year, in company with Bishop Edwards 
and Dr. L. Davis, I went to Washington City and called on 
President Lincoln to get government transportation for our 
missionaries and supplies to open a mission in Yicksburg, 
Mississippi, also to secure the privilege to occupy vacant houses 
for the use of the Freedmen. As Mr. Stanton was then Secre- 
tary of War, we called on him ; he sent us to a Mr. Town- 
send, and he then sent us to President Lincoln, to whom we 
were introduced by Messrs. Schenck and Wade, then members 
of Congress from Ohio. We spent three-quarters of an hour 
with the President. 

73 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

All we asked was granted by the President but the use of 
empty houses. He said he could not allow that except for 
military purposes. Vicksburg had fallen into our hands only 
in July, and as a matter of course all was under military 
control there. The President was in his shirt sleeves, and 
much care worn, yet took ample time to consider all we said 
to him. He told how he was killing slavery, as a good doc- 
tor would remove a wen from a man's neck, not by cutting 
»it out, for in that case the man might bleed to death, but by 
squeezing it hard every now and then and killing it that way. 
If he attempted to abolish slavery at once, the nation would 
probably die, so he wished to kill slavery and yet save our na- 
tion. When we were ready to leave, Doctor Davis said, while 
holding the President's hand, "I hope God will be with you." 
To which he replied quickly, "It is much more important 
that I be with God, for he is always right." 

President Lincoln had to bring about the abolition of 
slavery like the old slave told his master of the way his cart 
and yoke of oxen were destroyed. The slave was sent to the 
woods for a load of wood. He cut down a tree which fell 
the opposite way from what he expected, killing both oxen 
and badly breaking the cart. Ketuming without anything, 
his master asked him where the cart and oxen were. He said 
he cut down a tree and it fell the wrong way, and killed one 
ox. "Well, why did you not bring the other ox and cart with 
you ?" "Why, massa, dat tree broke de cart." "Why did you 
not bring home the ox then ?" "Why, massa, dat ox done get 
killed, too." "Sam, why did you not tell me at once that both 
oxen were killed and the cart smashed ?" "Massa, I told you 
dat way so you could stood it better." So President Lincoln 
sought to choke slavery to death by degrees so the nation 
could stand it. 



74 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1863-64 — Opening a School at Vicksburg — Miss Dickey — Subsequent 
Fate of Vicksburg Mission. 

The fourteenth year commenced in the autumn of 1863, 
when our Civil War was causing great suffering. I was very 
busy, especially looking after the new missions. The work 
among the Freedmen pleased our people, and they freely sent 
money, clothing, and books for that purpose. By December 
we had two ministers and four women teachers in Vicksburg, 
Mississippi, teaching five hundred freedmen and preaching 
to many more. A church was organized, and grew to over 
four hundred members in one year. A school was commenced 
at Davis Bend, not very far from Vicksburg, which could be 
continued only a couple of months because of the withdrawal 
of the Federal troops, making it unsafe to continue it longer. 
At one time we had nine laborers in Vicksburg, but some did 
not remain very long on account of becoming sick. The prog- 
ress made by the freedmen in their studies was remarkable. 
In a few months many of them learned to read quite well, and 
made equally as rapid progress in penmanship, geography, 
grammar, and arithmetic. They eagerly sought all the knowl- 
edge within their reach, both in the day and Sunday schools, 
and bv listening to preaching. This was true of voung and 
old. 

During the year I visited Vicksburg, and spent several 
days there, including a Sabbath, when I preached to a large 
congregation made up of freedmen, our teachers and others. 
Chaplain Warren, a venerable and humorous minister, was 
the general superintendent of the freedmen's educational 
and religious work there, and he told me that the United 
Brethren Church had sent a company of excellent teachers 

75 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

and workers to Vicksburg. One lady, he remarked, was not 
suited to labor with others, so he put her alone, and she was 
doing efficient work. That lady teacher was not satisfied to 
have others do as they liked, but insisted on having them do 
as she dictated, and yet she was a good Christian worker. 

Another one of the teachers we sent there, not being as good 
a scholar as she thought she ought to be, and quite poor, 
pawned her watch to get money to go to Mt. Holyoke, Massa- 
chusetts, where she spent four years working her way through 
college. She then went South and opened a school for col- 
ored girls, which grew to become a large and prosperous in- 
stitution, conducted after the Mt. Holyoke plan. She, being 
its president, frequently came North and East to solicit 
money, while friends in the South helped her, until that in- 
stitution owned about one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
excellent buildings, and the apparatus and equipment neces- 
sary to operate it. This she did for about thirty years, or 
until her death, in January, 1904. I first met Sarah A. Dickey 
at the mourner's bench. She was seventeen nights at the 
altar seeking salvation with all the earnestness of her 
soul. How true the declaration made by St. Paul, "But the 
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: 
for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned." God knew the work 
he was preparing that young woman for, and the test of faith 
and perseverance she needed during the time she agonized at 
that altar for the pardon of sin and to obtain evidence of her 
acceptance with God. 

During my stay in Vicksburg, in company with several of 
our teachers I visited the tree under which General Pemberton 
surrendered to General Grant, and had a limb cut for a cane, 
which is still in the family. 

As I do not wish to write about our work in Vicksburg 
again, I will run ahead a few years. That work, so glorious 
in results, being discontinued, led to severe criticism for 
throwing away several thousand dollars, which some thought 

76 



In the Gospel Ministry 

was done simply because we did not gather into United Breth- 
ren churches the people we had helped. The report I made to 
our Board of Missions one year later had these words in it: 
"During the year about fifteen thousand freedmen received 
instruction in the Southwest, seven hundred of them from our 
teachers, many of whom have learned to read and write quite 
well." The following was passed by the Board at that time : 
"That it is the duty of the Christian church to put forth 
extraordinary efforts for the spiritual, moral, and political 
regeneration of the people of the South, without distinction 
of color; and that in view of the antecedent history of the 
United Brethren Church, the position it has always occupied 
with respect to the subject of slavery and the rights of the en- 
slaved, it is peculiarly fitting and incumbent upon it to go and 
occupy, to the fullest extent of its ability, this moral waste 
and needy field, and that not less than ten thousand dollars 
be applied to this work." 

Owing to the changed relations of the Xorth and South at 
the close of the war, we resolved not to continue the freed- 
man's mission as a separate department of work, but to send 
as many missionaries into the Southern field as we could, to 
labor for the salvation of the people irrespective of color. 
Shortly after hostilities ceased the military authorities at 
Vicksburg remanded the lot upon which our mission chapel 
was built to its owner, who demanded the removal of the build- 
ing at once. As we could not procure another lot without great 
cost, it was thought best to abandon that place altogether. 
The people who had united with our Church had mostly gone 
to other places, and the city was fully occupied by other 
churches. AYe received for the house four hundred and fifty 
dollars, and for goods and other equipments we had there, 
three hundred and nineteen dollars, a total of seven hundred 
and sixty-nine dollars. Our Board did great good while it 
operated in Vicksburg, but alas! that was pretty nearly all 
it did for the South for many years afterward, except having 
small missions in Kentucky and Tennessee, though it did say 

77 



Fifty-flue Years of Active Life 

that not less than ten thousand dollars be applied to work in 
that field. 

A cobbler's sign read, "Soles saved here." A man going in 
to see what it meant learned that a peg here and a stitch there 
did save soles. He concluded that it would be a good sign to 
put on a church, "Souls saved here/' and especially if its 
worshipers, like the cobbler, did what they could to save souls. 
There was practical good sense in that mother whose daughter, 
just after graduating from a high school, was telling to others 
that she wished next to study psychology, philology, and biol- 
ogy. She said to the girl, "Stop right there ; I have arranged 
for you a course in roastology, boilology, stitchology, darn- 
ology, and general domestic hustleology. Now get on your 
working clothes and I will give you the first lesson." 



78 



CHAPTEK XV. 

18G4-65 — In the Christian Commission — Preaching to the Soldiers at 
Nashville — Smallpox Hospital — A Bishop's Loj T alty Questioned — ■ 
A Joke on Two Home Guards. 

From the fall of 1864 to the fall of 1865 was a year of un- 
usual excitement on account of the war. We in the North had 
much to do to help the Union cause, such -as paying for uni- 
forms for our home guards, supporting soldiers' families, 
and otherwise helping them. Besides giving considerable 
sums of money for these purposes, I gave six weeks' time do- 
ing hard work as a delegate of the Christian Commission. 
There were thousands of soldiers in the hospitals, and squads 
of them in other places as guards of railroads and other val- 
uable property, all of whom needed more attention than the 
Government could, or at least did give them. The Sanitary 
and Christian commissions sent persons to minister to their 
spiritual needs, which they did by distributing religious 
literature, holding prayer-meetings and preaching, and in 
some instances supplying them with mittens, socks, etc. 
Delegates gave their time gratis, but the government gave 
them transportation to and from the places, and furnished 
their board and lodging. 

I went to Nashville, Tennessee, soon after the battle be- 
tween Generals Hood and Thomas, in January, 1865, and 
was first appointed to Hospital Nineteen, in Nashville, where 
T spent two weeks. The surgeon there who had charge of the 
badly wounded requested my help to dress the wounds and 
wait on those who were sick. A young man who had had one 
arm and one leg amputated, having also had a bullet go clear 
through his right lung and come out, met us with a cheery 
"Good-morning." He was very patient when his wounds were 
dressed, and said he would be out of that in a few weeks. He 

79 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

got well. Another man with only a slight flesh wound on his 
big toe made more ado over it than did the badly-wounded 
man, and he said it was sure to kill him, and it did. It was 
indeed a sickening sight to go through the ward where all 
were badly wounded, or very sick. In some of the wards the 
soldiers were cheerful, and showed great loyalty to the Gov- 
ernment. 

The Sundays spent in Nashville were very busy days. On 
one I preached four times— once to a regiment just outside 
the city in the open air, the soldiers being formed into a hol- 
low square, while I stood on the stump of a large oak tree. 
The colonel of the regiment and several officers stood around 
the stump. Being the last of February, it was cold, and 
hence I kept my overcoat and gloves on while I preached from 
the text, "As he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and 
judgment to come, Felix trembled." There were good 
singers in that regiment who led the singing, while I did the 
rest, the service lasting forty minutes. At its close the 
colonel invited me to his tent, and to come back to preach 
next Sunday, saying he always wanted preaching on Sunday, 
for he could control his men better, though he was .not much 
of a believer in religion himself. He was much like the 
steward on an ocean steamer, who on Saturday said he wished 
me to hold religious services next day, adding, as he was 
about to leave, "Don't make your service too religious." There 
was another passenger on that steamer who said that he "did 
not believe in machine religion." 

After two weeks spent -in Nashville T was transferred to 
Bridgeport, Alabama, where for 'four weeks I preached four 
times a week, the post chaplain being away, and walked sev- 
eral miles every day distributing hymn-books and religious 
newspapers among the different squads of soldiers who were 
guarding munitions of war and other property. While there 
a squad of rebel prisoners came, to whom I ministered the 
same as to our soldiers. 

80 



l)i the Gospel Ministry 

At a- smallpox hospital, fully two miles away, nearly fifty 
soldiers died, to which place I was forbidden to go. They 
were in a sad condition, with no surgeon, only the surgeon's 
steward visiting them every other day to give . medicine and 
to instruct their nurses as to what to do. I stole off several 
times and went there and held religious services, preaching 
several times to the great comfort of those soldiers, some of 
whose faces were almost a solid scab, but they took in all that 
was said. Having had the smallpox two years before, I was 
safe. I wore a very long overcoat, which was kept closely 
buttoned when there, and this I took off before I got to my 
boarding-place, and hung it on the limb of a tree where the 
wind and air purified it ere I took it into the house. It was 
doing this that gave me away, and I had to quit going to 
administer spiritual consolation to the suffering and dying 
men of that hospital. 

There were names given me by some of the sick men, 
which reminded me of the following, reported by Eev. W. F. 
McCauley to a Cincinnati paper: "My predecessor was one 
Eev. Jeremiah Prophet Elias Kumler. You think that's 
odd? Well, listen to the names of his brothers and sisters. 
A sister was named Juan Fernandez Island Kumler. Another 
sister was Tierra Del Fuego Kumler, while a brother was 
William Harold King Agrippa Kumler. Another brother 
bore the name Sir Walter Scott Primrose Kumler. A 
cleverer or nicer family than those Kumlers it has not been 
my chance to meet. The minister always signed himself 
'J. P. E. Kumler.' " All the Kumlers named were full cousins 
to me, and grandchildren of Bishop Henry Kumler, who was 
a member of the first General Conference of the Church of the 
United Brethren in Christ. 

At the annual meeting in May that year, my annual report 
said: "Xothing of an extraordinary character transpired 
during the year in connection with our mission work, though 
some things were accomplished that are highly gratifying, 
among which may be named, the payment of our standing 

6 81 



Fifty-five Years of Active Lift 



debt. The treasury has no liabilities against it." All were 
very glad to hear that statement. 

At the General Conference which met immediately after 
the Board adjourned, and of which body the writer was a 
member, I took an active part in bringing out the real facts 
respecting one of the bishops of the Church, who lived in a 
'slave State, inside of the rebel lines, and whose loyalty to the 
Union cause was suspected. Reports had reached the North 
that he had helped the Southern rebellion, which he came 
near doing, but not in a censurable way. He had a. son-in-law 
who was an officer in the rebel cavalry, who knew that the 
bishop was to hold a quarterly meeting near where he was at 
that time. They lived in the same house, and the son-in-law 
wrote to the bishop that he should ride a certain hprse to that 
meeting to leave with him, and take back home the one that 
he then had, as he was lame; and he did this. 
After that and some other things were explained, the 
bishop passed without further criticism, and was 
reelected bishop and served twenty years afterward, as he had 
served twenty before, forty years in all. Some of the bishop's 
stanchest friends had said they had no use for any one who 
sympathized with the rebellion, and it was clear that he would 
have been defeated but for my questioning him till he told it 
all, which he was not inclined to do, and thought hard of me 
for pressing it, until it was explained months afterward. 

Two preachers living in a village in Butler County, Ohio, 
were members of the Home Guards. When Morgan's army 
passed through southern Indiana into Ohio, it was thought 
it would raid Hamilton, and the Home Guards were called 
out to defend that place. The two preachers rode to Hamil- 
ton in the same buggy. One said to the other as they neared 

that city, "Brother J , this is serious business we are in 

to-day." "Yes," said the other, "we may be shot, and I would 
not be shot for all Hamilton." At the given hour they reported 
for duty and were told that they should return soon after 
dinner and get their arms and ammunition. By that time 

82 



In the Gospel Ministry 

word came that Morgan had passed south of Hamilton, and 
they would not be needed. They returned home, but the 
joke of not being willing to be shot for all Hamilton got out 
on them, and they were often twitted. Many years ago a 
preacher had to ride all day in the rain, over corduroy 
roads and through deep mud, and toward evening his horse's 
foot got fast, and in struggling threw him and his saddle- 
bags into the muddy water. He had felt cheerful all day, 
but now his clean clothes were wet and dirty, and he wet and 
cold, and he felt at first like complaining at his hard lot. 
Just then it came to him that Satan was trying him, and 
after pouring the dirty water out of his saddle-bags, he got 
onto a log and crowed like a rooster, and said, "Xow, old 
devil, you thought you would make me mad because of the 
accident to me, and in that way spoil the meeting I am to 
hold to-night, but you can't come that game on me." A man, 
unperceived by the preacher, was a witness to what happened, 
and he went to the meeting that night and told on the 
preacher. There was quite a congregation present, and he 
preached excellently, and great good was done, notwithstand- 
ing rain, mud, and Satan had hindered. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

1865-66^ Reverses in Africa — Misconceptions of Good People— The 
German's Blunder — The Board's Endorsement. 

It will be remembered that I began my ministerial labors 
the first week of October, 1850, and the conference I joined 
always met in August or September. 

Unless I was at the various conferences to plead for the 
Board, they kept the lion's share of the missionary money for 
their home missions. I often got increased sums for the 
Board, and kept the conferences from multiplying home mis- 
sions, which, in many instances, would have required all the 
missionary money collected by the pastors. This they could 
do up to 1869, at which time the General Conference made it 
obligatory upon them to give the Board from one-quarter to 
one-half of their missionary money. I shall never forget the 
sharp contests required to get a reasonable share of that 
money previous to 1869. 

During this year the African mission had serious reverses. 
There was no American missionary there, though 'the Board 
had done its best to send one or two more missionaries to that 
field. To the native who was in charge, five hundred dollars 
worth of goods and some money were sent, to enable him to 
keep the school going and to do some preaching. The vessel 
upon which these were sent was lost at sea. That left our 
native missionary so destitute that he had to leave the station 
and go elsewhere to earn a living, but his wife remained and 
taught the school. They did well, considering the very em- 
barrassing circumstances in which they were placed. 

These reverses brought serious criticisms upon me, and re- 
newed the old charge that I was keeping money from our 
home fields while attempting the impossible in the helping 

84 



In the Gospel Ministry 

of negroes in Africa. I had located the mission, and had 
earnestly advocated its prosecution, notwithstanding the dis- 
tractions in the United States growing out of the war, and 
the great need of missionary work at home. There were then 
professed Christians, as there are still, who cared little for 
missions among the heathen, and especially were they in- 
different, and even opposed to missions among the Africans. 
jtfever shall I forget how a good brother of a sister church 
hailed me on the street in Dayton, Ohio, and said : "Hello, 
Flickinger, I see you are just back from Africa again. I am 
glad to see you, but feel sorry that you are throwing away 
your life on niggers, when you might do so much more good 
among whites. You have been going to Africa for more than 
twenty years, and you ought to have them all about converted 
by this time." After looking at him a moment, and knowing 
that he was a good meaning man, and a real friend of mine, 
I said to him : "You Methodists have four or five churches in 
Dayton, and the Baptists, and Presbyterians, and Lutherans, 
and United Brethren about as many more each, and in all 
these there are Sunday schools, and prayer-meetings, and 
preaching every week, and Dayton has had much Christian 
work done in it for seventy-five years, and }^et it is full of 
sinners, and some of them are no better than the heathen in 
Africa, and more guilty before God. Now, since with all 
these religious appliances in Dayton many of the people here 
are not yet converted, you ought not expect the Africans all to 
be converted in so short a time." He replied that there were 
some "niggers" that could not be helped morally or religious- 
ly. I admitted that, but said that there were scores of white 
people in Da}i:on and elsewhere who could not be improved 
either. They would continue to be the same lazy, filthy, 
wicked creatures they were then, and had been all their lives 
probably. Just so with some negroes; but about as large a 
proportion of them would be benefited by Christianity as of 
whites. I reminded him of the fact that, the people of western 
Africa had about twenty centuries of heathenism behind 

85 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

them, and that we ought not to expect as much from them as 
from Americans. 

I often think of my little five-year-old boy, who had been 
playing with other children, and felt that they had imposed 
on him. He came to me and said, "Papa, they don't treat 
me right, and I would run off and get away from them if I 
knew where to run to." I have often felt that I would like to 
get away from unreasonable people. It is said that an Irish 
soldier who was charged with cowardice exonerated himself 
from blame by saying that it was his legs that refused to go 
into battle. 

My father had a tenant who had recently come from Ger- 
many. He became a Christian, and in social meetings would 
often sing the hymn, "Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone," 
with tears in his eyes and glory in his soul, but he sang it, 
"Jesus my all and heaven is gone." The Lord knew that he 
meant all right, though his words were wrong. So I was con- 
soled often with the thought that the Lord knew I meant it 
right, when charged with wasting time and money in my 
efforts to help Africa. I am glad that that kind of opposition 
to Africa has about ceased. When a lad not over six years of 
age, at a meeting in my father's house one night, I was sitr 
ting on a slab bench so high that my feet could not reach the 
floor. The meeting lasted about two hours. As soon as the 
benediction was pronounced, I was on my feet stretching 
myself, and saying that I was glad it was over with once 
more. The people laughed and my mother reproved me for 
that honest expression of mine. I was just as glad when high 
officials in the Church and others ceased their unreasonable 
and unscriptural opposition to the African mission. A 
bishop and a very prominent layman nearly forty years ago 
proved conclusively, as they thought, that the United Breth- 
ren Church could not support a mission in Africa, and that 
Satan was prompting me to favor missions there to the detri- 
ment of home missions. That was published in the Religious 
Telescope. 

86 



In the Gospel Ministry 

The Board of Missions at its annual meeting in 1866 
adopted the following paper, which gave me some relief and 
satisfaction : 

"Whereas, God has graciously preserved our mission in 
Africa through all the actions and burdens of the late war, 
and has blessed our labors there, making the mission a 
marked power for good among the people, thus showing his 
approbation of our efforts, therefore, 

"Resolved, 1. That we realize our responsibility as a Board 
and Church, and we call upon our people everywhere to give 
more liberally of their means, that we may prosecute that 
work with greater energy. 

"2. That our thanks are due to the missionaries who have 
sustained that mission during the long years of rebellion in 
this country, while we were compelled to turn aside to exter- 
minate the heathenish institution of slavery in America." 

At that meeting the Board appointed Rev. 0. Hadley and 
wife as missionaries to go to Africa, which was also an en- 
dorsement of my course in advocating the continuance of the 
African mission. 



87 



CHAPTEK XVII. 

1866-67 — Metallic Casket — Sample of Opposition to Foreign Missions 
— Discouragements. 

Not long before I went to Africa the first time with" two 
other brethren, the question was asked whether it would not 
be the wise thing to take three iron, air-tight caskets with us,' 
in which our bodies might be brought back to this country 
in case of our death. It was then believed that the majority 
of all who went to western Africa died there. My reply was 
that I cared not what the other brethren did, but I wished to 
be buried where I died. If I died at sea, let me be buried in 
the ocean, and if iii Africa, I would be buried there. Owing 
to the long years which passed ere we had success in Africa, 
the heavy burdens borne, and the severe criticisms and com- 
plaints made, I have felt a few times in my life that I would 
have been spared a great deal if I had died the first time in 
Africa. 

In an article in the Religious Telescope, written in reply to 
an article of mine, a bishop of our Church said: "The com- 
mission 'Go ye into all the world' has been fulfilled long ago, 
and it remains to be proven that this command does mean 
that after a nation has become fully established in the doc- 
trine of Christ, and then retrogrades into idolatry, it should 
be fulfilled the second time. Let the African alone, Ephraim 
has turned to his idols, until God sees fit to send men whose 
calling will be made plain to them by the spirit of truth ; such 
will not hesitate to obey. I am fearful that the devil is play- 
ing pranks with some of our preachers, so as to make our 
home work less prosperous." Take the words, "Until God sees 
fit to send men whose calling will be made plain to them by 
the spirit of truth; such will not hesitate to obey." That 



In the Gospel Ministry 

bishop assumed that the writer, and others who had gone to 
Africa, ha(J not been called to that work by God, and that he 
was fearful that the devil was using us and our advocacy of the 
African mission "for the purpose of making our home work 
less prosperous." I give some prominence to the character of 
the men and the kind of opposition they put in the way of 
the African mission, to show how very determined good peo- 
ple may be to carry their ends and to oppose what God's Word 
so clearly teaches is our duty. A colored preacher said in a 
sermon that unless the wicked repented and received forgive- 
ness of sin, they would be forever lost, as sure as he would kill 
the fly then sitting on his left hand. He struck and missed 
it. But he did not place himself in a more awkward and 
embarrassing position than did those opposers of the African 
mission, especially those who kept up their opposition until 
great success attended our work in Africa. A very few did 
that even afterward by denying the truth of the good done 
there, as reported by our missionaries. 

A sister, at whose house I had been a welcome guest for 
years and whose husband had been my special friend, once 
left the church where I preached a missionary sermon, and 
went home to get dinner, saying at the table, by way of 
apology for doing so, that she did not enjoy missionary ser- 
mons and lectures, especially since there was always some- 
thing in them about our African mission, and she had no use 
for negroes. That woman showed real pleasure when she 
heard of the assassination of President Lincoln. But for her 
being, in most respects, an excellent woman, though ignorant 
and narrow, she would have been roughly handled by some of 
her neighbors, who told her never again to utter words ap- 
proving Lincoln's assassination or she would be punished. 
She took the hint and talked less thereafter. 

Once at an annual conference in Kansas I preached one of 
my best missionary sermons, at the close of which a sister 
said to me : "Why do you preach such stuff out here in Kan- 
sas? We all know that you can preach good sermons, as you 

89 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

used to do when you were our pastor in Ohio. What a pity 
you made such a mistake, for now the people will go away 
cold and disappointed, instead of being shouting happy, as 
we expected to be made at the meeting to-night." No doubt 
my missionary talks did keep back some shouting. 

Eev. 0. Hadley and wife, our missionaries in Africa during 
this year, were much discouraged, as a statement from their 
report shows. Especially was it so in view of an empty treas- 
ury and some debts which had accumulated. He wrote: 
"Both mission boats are unseaworthy, and the mission chapel 
is so badly eaten by bug-a-bugs that it had to be propped to 
keep it from falling. We are compelled to use the mission 
residence for worship, and for a schoolroom. We scarcely 
know what to say of the mission in spiritual things. We are 
afflicted at the thought that so little is done." 

Nothing is more discouraging than the want of success, 
and with such good missionaries on the field as the Hadleys 
sending the report they did, with the opposition at home, 
my load truly was a heavy one. I had a much esteemed 
friend who, though a very kind man, a good citizen, and al- 
ways ready to minister to the needs and happiness of others, 
was not a Christian. He and his family had an income suf- 
ficient to own a home, but they lived and dressed well and 
saved nothing. One day the question came up, in the way 
of a jest, as to what this man lacked, or in what he failed 
to do as he ought. The answer came into my mind like a 
flash, and I said to him, "You are neither laying up treasure 
on earth nor in heaven." So it seemed to be about this time 
that our Church was neither converting sinners from the 
errors of their way in Africa, nor among the officials in 
America. When Christians fully believe the commission of 
Christ, "Go ye into all the world; and preach the gospel to 
every creature," and when the heathen do turn to God by 
hundreds, there is encouragement from both ends of the line. 



90 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

1867-68 — Success on the Frontier — Church Erection — An Iowa Ex- 
ample — Discouragements in Africa. 

While some discouragements continued, there were more 
encouraging features connected with my work this year than 
existed during several previous ones. 

The fact that during this year 7,000 persons had been re- 
ceived into the Church by our missionaries on the home and 
frontier missions, was used as an argument against .our 
African mission, where so few had been induced to become 
Christians. Had I not offset that argument by showing 
that our commencing, a foreign mission had greatly awak- 
ened interest in the cause of missions generally, and that 
thereby we got more money for missions in the United States 
than ever before, that argument against Africa would have 
won many who were friendly to it, or at least not opposed to 
it. I did show conclusively that Africa was attracting inter- 
est, that it had stimulated our people to give more liberally 
than they had ever done before, and that was one reason why 
a considerable part of the money collected for missions ought 
to go to Africa. It is a fact that as soon as the Church went 
abroad to preach the gospel her prosperity increased at home, 
where she had more money for mission work than ever be- 
fore. 

I had urged the organization of a church erection society 
for several years, but it was objected to on the ground that 
it was unwise to increase organizations requiring money. The 
Church had in the twenty years previous organized the Mis- 
sionary Society, and the Sabbath-School Board, to help desti- 
tute communities operate Sunday schools ; it had built a num- 
ber of new colleges, and given considerable money to these en- 
terprises, and hence -it was said it were better not to have any 

91 



Fifty-jive Years of Active Life 

more organizations at present. I did succeed, however, in 
getting church erection organized at the General Conference 
of 1869. Though very little was done for some years, it fin- 
ally grew stronger, and helped to build scores of nouses while 
I was yet its secretary, and it is now helping to build many 
United Brethren churches. Church erection and missions are 
handmaids to each other, each helping the other, and both 
greatly aiding church growth in this country. 

There was one occurrence that I often told with good effect, 
to show how much the Church lost by not having a church 
erection society. At an annual conference in Iowa, an itiner- 
ant reported one hundred! and fifty converts and accessions to 
the Church as the result of a meeting held in a schoolhouse. 
Several years afterward I attended the same conference, and 
very naturally inquired how the society had prospered. To 
my surprise and chagrin I was told that there was no United 
Brethren society there then. An effort had been made to 
build a church soon after the revival, but, the people being 
poor and much scattered in that new country, it failed. The 
pastor of another church, in a village three miles from the 
schoolhouse in which so many had been saved and added to the 
United Brethren Church, and which they could no longer use 
for meetings, hearing of their failure to get money to build, 
told them that there was an organization in Boston which 
furnished money to poor societies to build houses of worship, 
and that he -would get them several hundred dollars for that 
purpose if they would unite with his church. They did, and 
the result was that there was a thriving Congregational 
church built near that schoolhouse. Had we had a church 
erection fund then, from which a few hundred dollars could 
have been loaned for four or five years without interest, as we 
have had since 1869, we could have saved over one hundred 
and fifty members to our Church at that place. The good 
thing in our plan of helping poor societies to build houses of 
worship is that the same money goes on helping to build 
churches while time lasts. Many societies have in this way 



In the Gospel Ministry 

secured houses of worship which they could not or would not 
have built without this help. I have known a number of in- 
stances where the promise of a loan of from two hundred to 
five hundred dollars for a few years stimulated societies to 
build churcheSj and they afterward met all the cost themselves 
without calling for the money promised by' the Church Erec- 
tion Society. Believing in these possibilities led me to pre- 
pare a constitution for a church erection society, and to 
present it to the General Conference of 1869, which adopted 
it. Being a member of that General Conference enabled me 
to work and speak in behalf of church erection, which I did 
freely. 

To show my attitude to our work in Africa, I wrote to Bev. 
0. Hadley, who was then in charge of that mission, to give 
his real opinion as to whether we had better abandon 
Africa altogether. The reply was as follows : "I doubt if 
there is a field harder than this in all the world. The climate 
is a great drawback here. By the time we are prepared to 
work we die, or must go home to recruit our health. Slavery 
and polygamy exist here; these breed caste, pride, indolence, 
degradation and robbery. The want of veracity is a great 
evil ; I almost think they are all liars. The mission has but 
little hold on them. They do not feel that Christianity is 
their religion." 

After receiving this from a man of good judgment and a 
godly missionary, who had worked among that people long 
enough to know them well, I was discouraged a little, but felt 
that the only consistent course was to prosecute that work 
with greater energy. To abandon Africa was a virtual 
acknowledgement that the gospel of Christ could not save 
that people from their deep degradation. The thing to do 
was to go forward with the work, believing that the gospel 
was the power of God unto salvation unto all nations, and in 
due time those who sowed bountifully should also reap 
bountifully. The members of the Board, with one exception, 
heartily sanctioned these views, and by its action put upon 

93 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

record its position, which was not unlike the inscription put' 
upon the arch of the gateway into a cemetery, "We are here 
to stay." 



94 



CHAPTER XIX. 

1 869-70 — Pleading for Better Rules — The Crisis in African Mission — 
Thomas Tucker — "Palaver.' 

The declaration, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil there- 
of/ 7 is quite as applicable to weeks, months, and years, as it is 
to days, and perhaps more so, for there are some days when 
very little evil comes to one, but that is seldom true of the 
whole year. Several evils had burdened the society, which 
I felt must be removed this year, if possible. One to be got- 
ten out of the way was the method of dividing the money col- 
lected for missions. I believed it necessary to have 
a rule adopted that would give the Board of Missions a cer- 
tain proportion of money collected by the pastors for mis- 
sionary purposes. I had urged that at the General Confer- 
ences of 1861 and of 1865, but failed to get such a rule 
adopted. However, I felt that it was right, and by word of 
mouth, as well as in the Religious Telescope and the Mis- 
sionary Visitor, I had shown that if the Board of Missions 
was to prosper such .a rule must be enacted. In my report to 
the Board, which held its annual meeting a few days before 
the General Conference of 1869, as also in my quadrennial 
report to that body, I showed clearly that the thousands of 
destitute people in the southern and western portions of our 
. country, and the millions in Africa, were in greater need than 
any portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 
Iowa, in which States more than two-thirds of our missionary 
money was expended. 

To help to get a rule to give a certain proportion of mis- 
sionary money to the Board, I showed that an average of one 
dollar to the member should be collected by the pastors, which 
would have been about twice the amount then obtained for 

95 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

missions. This was urged for two reasons ; namely, that more 
money ought to be collected for missions, and that by so doing 
the General Conference would more likely vote the rule de- 
sired, and give the Board a larger proportion of what was 
collected. This it did. The rule worked so well that it was 
practised thereafter until two boards were organized in 1905, 
one for home, and one for foreign missions. Nothing in the 
Bible is truer than the declaration : "There is that scat- 
tereth, and yet increaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more 
than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul 
shall be made fat : and he that watereth shall be watered also 
himself." 

The rule adopted by the General Conference gave the Board 
about one-third the missionary money collected by pastors. 
The strong and rich conferences gave one-half of their collec- 
tions, and others from one-third to one-fourth. 

Another matter that had given me much concern, and 
that- 1 was determined should be settled by. the General Con- 
ference of 1869, was whether the mission in Africa should 
be prosecuted in a way to make it successful, or be discon- 
tinued. That question had agitated the Church and caused 
considerable discussion for several years, and I was tired of it. 
The only American missionaries the Church had there, Eev. 
0. Hadley and wife, reached America on the tenth of April, 
after having been in Africa less than two years, and Mr. 
Hadley died the 21st of that month, just four weeks before 
the General Conference met. Their early return, his death, 
and the unfavorable report they made of the outlook in 
Africa, with a feeling among some of our people that we were 
not able to find the missionaries or the money to make that 
work successful, made rather a strong case against continuing 
that mission. Notwithstanding all the opposition to its con- 
tinuance, I used these words in my report to the Conference ; 
"A glorious harvest of souls will yet be gathered there by the 
church which will sustain laborers in that field." After the 
question was discussed pro and con for some time by the 

96 



In the Gospel Ministry 

General Conference, it voted almost unanimously not to 
abandon it, but to keep the way open to prosecute that work 
as soon as laborers and money were available for that pur- 
pose. That ended forever the question as to whether we should 
abandon Africa. 

Mr. Thomas Tucker, one of our first converts in Africa, 
came to the mission at Shenge a nude, filthy creature, and was 
employed as a laborer at first, and then foreman of laborers; 
also captain of our mission boat. After a few years he became 
a Christian, and then a minister of the gospel. One time he 
was sent with a boat up one of the rivers to buy rice for the 
mission. While his boat was at anchor a marauding party 
seized it, and were already out in the river with it when he 
came upon the scene. Though he was naturally a coward and 
easily scared, and the river was deep, he plunged into it and 
swam to where the boat was, and put out the three men who 
were making off with it. He said to them, "Ah, you go 
thief; this God palaver boat." It was the boat the mission- 
aries used in going to preach. "You may fight and hurt me 
if you can/' he said, "but I will fight for mission boat, and 
God will help me keep it." In due time the boat came back 
to the mission with a good supply of rice, and Thomas was a 
very happy man, because he had won so signal a victory over 
those who were themselves thieves and robbers, and who would 
have killed him if they dared. • 

Having used the phrase, "God palaver boat," I wish to say 
that the word "palaver" is much used by Africans. One can 
almost speak the whole of the Sherbro dialect with that word. 
They say "work palaver," "sleep palaver," "eat palaver," 
"drink palaver," "good palaver," "bad palaver," and "sick 
palaver." Preaching is "God palaver." It seems to mean 
quarreling primarily, as when they do quarrel they say they 
have "palaver," and when it is a serious dissention they say 
"big palaver," or "hard palaver," or some such qualifying 
adjective is employed. 



97 



CHAPTEE XX. 

1870-71 — Experiences With Tricky Africans — Negotiations With 
American Missionary Association — Joseph Gomer — Headman 
Holds Service — Germany. 

When in Africa the first time I started in a rowboat to go 
one hundred and twenty miles, having with me five natives 
for boatmen. On the second day out I became so ill that we 
had to stop early in the afternoon in an African village, and 
remain there till the next morning. It was Saturday, and 
being still sixty miles from my destination, I started quite 
early, telling my boatmen that they must get me to the end 
of the journey that night. After all was ready for starting, I 
had all the awnings put down in the part of the boat I occu- 
pied to keep the breezes from striking me, and this hid the 
boatmen from me. The sound of their oars seemed to be all 
right, and I believed all was going on properly. At the end 
of half an hour I looked out to see how far we had gone, when 
to my surprise the boat was within one hundred yards of 
where we started. The boatmen made it up among them- 
selves that they would not get me to the end of my journey 
that day, and knowing that I would not travel on Sunday, 
they had planned to spend the day on an island only three 
miles away. 

I made it lively for a time, and watched them, and in less 
than an hour they were opposite the island. They insisted on 
landing there, but I said, "No." Then they said, "Master, our 
water to drink and to cook with has all been spilled, out of 
keg." One man had managed with his feet to loosen the 
stopper in the end of the keg, and let the water run out, so as 
to compel me to stop, hoping thereby to delay so long that we 
could not reach our destination that day. They were made to 

98 



In the Gospel Ministry 

fill the keg with water as quickly as possible, and to .pull out 
from the island, and there was no more stopping till the end 
of the journey, which was on Sunday morning at daylight. 
Such conflicts between laborers and their employers are com- 
mon experiences with missionaries in Africa. It is often dif- 
ficult there to get others to do a reasonable share of work. 
The natives practise intrigue and deception on missionaries 
in many ways, as in making regular strokes with their oars 
without advancing, and in causing the water-keg to get empty. 
This is often annoying, though sometimes amusing, and mis- 
sionaries and others are not unfrequently made to realize that 
the cunning deception and carefully-planned fraud are 
strong arguments in favor of their being the equals of white 
people, especially in these respects, though deeply degraded 
in many things. 

Eespecting the management of the African mission in 1870, 
the following was adopted by the Board: 

"Whereas, The Executive Committee during the year did 
not see its way clear to send laborers to Africa, nor are we 
able to do so now, therefore, 

"Resolved, That we will give our property in Africa to the 
American Missionary Association, with the missionary on the 
ground, Eev. J. A. Williams, until May, 1873; also that we 
will give what is needed to support Mr. Williams during the 
period named/' 

The secretary of the American Missionary Association and 
I had had a meeting in Oberlin, Ohio, at the instance of our 
respective Executive Committees, canvassing the situation 
and the conditions upon which such a transfer could be made. 
The last letter from the secretary of the American Missionary 
Association to me, received but a few days before this meet- 
ing, contained the following : "Our Executive Committee has 
authorized me to complete any arrangement that can be ef- 
fected with you that will not involve increased expense to us, 
which I think can be done." Pending negotiations between 
the United Brethren Executive Committee and American 

C Of C. 99 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Missionary i^ssociation Committee, the sad news reached me 
that our native missionary in Africa, Mr. Williams, had died. 
That was only two weeks after the above transfer to the Amer- 
ican Missionary Association had been considered. The effects 
of this death upon the Church was to impress it that too little 
had been done for Africa, and that instead of letting go the 
feeble hold we had upon it, we ought to redouble our efforts to 
work there. 

I had agreed to this transfer only on the ground that it was 
the one chance of retaining -a mission in Africa -at all, and 
had been busy in the meantime trying to find a suitable man 
and his wife to go to Africa to take charge of our mission 
there. I succeeded in finding a good layman, a colored man, 
Mr. Joseph Gomer, and his wife, then living in Dayton, Ohio, 
whom I recommended for that work. The Executive Com- 
mittee, however, were not all willing to send them, urging as 
one reason that a minister ought to be sent, I then proposed to 
accompany them, and remain with them one year. The com- 
mittee deferred final action one week, and then decided not to 
allow me to go, but to appoint Mr. and Mrs. Gomer. They 
sailed from New York to Africa in December, 1870. The 
thought that so greatly mortified me and caused me to offer 
my services for a fourth trip to Africa was that I believed that 
the United Brethren Church was as evangelical and spiritual, 
and had as good a government, as any in the United States, 
and with a membership of over 100,000 it ought to possess 
enough foreign missionary zeal to produce a missionary and 
his wife to send to Africa, and to furnish the money to sup- 
port them. 

I often thought of a good lady I knew whose husband was 
much from home as a minister doing work for God. She 
always kept up family worship morning and night, there be- 
ing several grown sons at home, all of whom were professed 
Christians and who prayed in turns. These young men had 
been husking corn one day, and at the time for family worship 
that night were sleepy. The one whose turn it was to lead 

100 



In the Gospel Ministry 

in prayer knelt down, but soon went to sleep on his knees, 
with his head resting on the chair. The good mother was so 
horrified that she exclaimed, "God have mercy on such pray- 
ing !" Calling to another son, she told him to pray. The boy 
by that time was nearly splitting his sides laughing at his 
brother's going to sleep while trying to pray, and he made no 
effort to comply with her request. Then the good woman 
commenced praying, and did it so penitently and earnestly 
that she turned the sleepiness and levity of the boys into great 
seriousness and regret at what had happened. It became as 
serious with them as an occurrence did with some people in 
Africa, in a village where I often preached, not far from 
Shenge. There was a native missionary stationed at that 
place several years. Once he went away to remain several 
weeks. The first Sabbath after leaving, the head man of the 
village told the people that there would be a meeting in 
the barri as usual, and that they must come. He said to some 
of the boys and girls who had been attending the mission 
.school and could sing, that they must lead the singing, which 
they did. Then he called upon a Sierra Leone trader who was 
stopping in the village, ordering him to come to the meeting 
to pray. He refused at first, but the head man told him that 
if he did not come to the meeting and pray he must leave his 
town. _ Having a canoe and some goods there that he could 
not move just then, he concluded to comply with the request, 
and he went to the meeting and mumbled some words of 
prayer. Then the head man, who was not a Christian, at- 
tempted to preach, but it got to be a serious thing. He, like 
the man who attempted to pray, seemed to be deeply con- 
victed, and was greatly confused. The description given by 
one present was that "they had big God palaver there that 
day." What motive prompted the head man to hold that 
meeting we never learned, but he never held another. 

The writer had for several years favored opening a mission 
in Germany, for the following reasons: 1. Because the 
founder of the United Brethren Church was a German. 2. A 

101 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

large number of our people and their descendants were Ger- 
man. 3. Germany needed earnest, spiritual, gospel preach- 
ing. The Board of Missions, at its annual meeting in May, 
1869, had consented to commence a mission in Germany as 
soon as suitable "missionaries could be found to go there. Eev. 
C. Bischoff and wife were appointed, and they sailed in Octo- 
ber, 1869. They commenced work in Nail a, Bavaria, but as 
all independent churches were denied many privileges given 
to the state churches, the work was slow at first. Things soon 
took a favorable turn, and before the first year passed seventy- 
two persons united with the Church. The Board recom- 
mended sending another missionary as soon as practicable, 
which, however, was not done for some time. 



102 



CHAPTER XXI. 

1871-72 — "Only Betsy" — Talking Money — Chinaman and Indian in 
California — Encouraging News From Africa. 

My father had a neighbor who, in answer to the question^ 
"Is your family well?" would reply, "Yes, we are about as 
usual, only Betsy. She keeps her workbag hanging on the 
bedpost, and takes out a new complaint every morning." He 
then would proceed to name the particular thing his wife was 
complaining of that day, sometimes neuralgia, at other times 
rheumatism, or headache, or some other affliction. This man, 
sitting in church once, he on one side and his wife on the 
other side of the middle rail dividing the women from the 
men, went to sleep during preaching and got to dreaming, and 
in his dream he thought their baby had fallen out of bed, 
when he cried out, loud enough to be heard all over the house, 
"There, Betsy, the baby has fallen out of bed again." The 
night before, this experience had befallen their baby, and in 
his dream the scene was reenacted in his thoughts. 

Well, I had some things to complain of, too. I was troubled 
by the tardiness of some pastors and their congregations in re- 
sponding to reasonable calls to help increase the missionary 
money. I plead for a more aggressive policy this year, writ- 
ing a good deal, both in the Missionary Visitor and the Re- 
ligious Telescope. I also recommended the publication of 
missionary tracts, circulars, and collecting cards for free dis- 
tribution among our people, but these suggestions met with 
little favor. I also plead that something effective be done to 
secure money for the Church Erection Society, there being 
great need in that department. As I was secretary of both 
the Church Erection and Missionary societies, and the only 
paid officer they had, my hands were quite full of work. 

103 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

Notwithstanding this, I was pressed by the managers of 
Union Biblical Seminary, and especially by the senior bishop 
of the Church, to give at least three months to the work of 
soliciting money for that purpose in connection with my other 
duties. I therefore attended all the annual conferences I 
could, and took subscriptions for Union Biblical Seminary. 
The subscription papers stated that the amounts set opposite 
the names of subscribers were to be paid several months after 
date, and they were to be duplicated in one year thereafter. 
The work required to be done was very laborious, owing to 
the fact that all names put upon the subscription papers had 
to be copied from one to three times, and a copy left with each 
presiding elder, whose duty it was to collect the amounts sub- 
scribed and forward to the treasurer of the Seminary. The 
original subscription book was given to its manager. This 
extra work so seriously affected my health that it took a whole 
year to regain it. 

In this connection I might say, while on the subject of 
extra work, that a few years before I spent considerable time 
collecting money for the Publishing House debt. During one 
year I traveled a circuit and collected for the Publishing 
House two hundred and fifty dollars, paying in addition two 
hundred dollars on the debt myself. With the assistance of a 
couple of pastors of Miami Conference I did the work of the 
secretary at the same time, all of us working gratis for 
the Missionary Society. I received one hundred and seventy- 
five dollars more salary on that circuit than had been paid 
previously, and collected over twice as much missionary 
money. In the previous quadrennium I gave one week to 
soliciting money to endow a chair in Otterbein University, 
the amount, five thousand dollars, being given by my brothers, 
brothers-in-law, and myself. It is known as the Flickinger 
chair in Otterbein University. 

The old lady whose husband had been a life-long itinerant 
in the United Brethren Church, and who was greatly inter- 
ested in a lecture on Africa and a money sermon she heard me 

104 



In the Gospel Ministry 

deliver at an annual conference, ought to be excused for say- 
ing, "Flickinger has talked money so much that his mouth 
has gotten crooked." That which caused me to reluctantly do 
so much soliciting outside of my regular work was the fact 
that it took away the only leisure I had for reading and 
'study, which I much desired to do, and felt great need of 
doing, to fit me for the position I occupied. 

When. in California, in 1873, in company with Bishop Dick- 
son attending the Coast conferences, we were holding a woods 
meeting about three miles from a railroad station and post- 
office. One day I went in a buggy for the mail, and was re- 
turning to our stopping place when I overtook a Chinaman 
who was walking, carrying an ax. I reined up my horse and 
entered into conversation with him, with a view of doing 
some missionary work on him. I asked him where he was go- 
ing, and he replied, "To choppe wood." After some more 
talk I told him I must go, and that he must be a good man 
and not steal, or lie, or drink whisky, or swear. He had 
been very sociable and friendly, but now his face became 
serious, and with both hands uplifted he exclaimed, "You 
tellee me too muchee goodee to do all at one time. Too 
muchee, too muchee." So I had too muchee, too muchee good 
to look after at one time, and hence did not always succeed 
as I otherwise would have done. 

Some days before that interview with the Chinaman, while 
at the California Conference, Bishop Dickson and I, having 
our home at the parsonage, had some washing done. The 
woman came early in the morning, bringing her husband with 
her. They were the finest looking Indians I ever saw. It was 
in the month of May and quite warm, and the washing was 
done out of doors, at the rear end of the parsonage lot, under 
the shade of a large tree. The Indian husband built the fire, 
filled the kettle with water, put up the clothes-line, and made 
himself generally useful helping his wife. Our dinner that 
day was eaten on the porch in the rear of the parsonage, in 
full view of where that woman was washing. After dinner 

105 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

I concluded to go where she was at work and have a little 
friendly talk with her. By way of introduction, I said that 
the day was quite warm. To this she replied with a 
guttural sound which was neither a grunt nor a groan, mean- 
ing "yes." Next I asked her if she was not very tired, and re- 
ceived the same guttural response ; she kept right on rubbing 
the clothes. Then I asked her where her husband had 
gone, when she stopped rubbing and wiped the sweat off her 
forehead, looked me full in the face and said : "My old man no 
been here since ten o'clock ; he go off and lay down in the shade 
and sleep ; he all the same like white man ; he too much lazy/' 
There was considerable laughter on the porch, as the pastor 
and his family and Bishop Dickson were within hearing. I 
had no more questions to ask that woman. 

During this year, owing to the decided opposition to our 
mission work in Germany upon the part of the state of- 
ficials, we had but little success there, nor could a second mis- 
sionary be found to go to that country, as was directed by the 
Board of Missions at its annual meeting the year before. The 
outlook was discouraging. Against this, however, there was 
very encouraging word from Africa, where we had had so 
little success for years.. Mr. Gomer and wife had received a 
hearty welcome among the people, and especially by the chief 
at Shenge. In about five months after he commenced work 
there he wrote : "Our meetings are well attended. Chief 
Caulker himself comes to them, and allows his slaves to come 
to Sunday school. He enjoins on all the observance of the 
Sabbath, has become a professed Christian himself, and urges 
others to do the same. The people are very attentive, espe- 
cially when the chief speaks to them in Sherbro." Another 
very encouraging thing was that the Missionary Visitor, 
which the writer started in 1865, with fears that it would not 
pay the expense of publication, now had a circulation of 
twenty-five thousand, }delding a nice profit over all expenses. 



106 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

1872-73 — Two Remarkable Providences — The Answer to Mrs. 
Hadley's Prayer — Unexpectedly Meets His Namesake, Daniel 
Flickinger Wilberforce — Growth of the Home Mission Work. 

Several remarkable events in conncetion with my work 
occurred during this year, which I regard as special provi- 
dences. Rev. J. A. Evans and Mrs. Hadley were sent to re- 
inforce the African mission. I accompanied them to Xew 
York City to assist in getting their outfit, and to buy supplies 
for the mission. The steamer on which they were to sail was 
to leave Xew York on Saturday, and we reached the city on 
Wednesday night. On Thursday evening a letter was re- 
ceived by Mrs. Hadley from her father, severely reprimanding 
her for going to Africa and leaving her only child with them, 
and threatening to disinherit her if she did not return to 
them. It also contained some rather uncomplimentary things 
about me for the part I had taken in getting Mrs. Hadley to 
return to Africa as a missionary. 

We were stopping at a boarding-house kept by a Christian, 
and after evening prayers Mrs. Hadley made known her sad 
plight, and asked counsel and the prayers of our landlord and 
his wife, Mr. Evans and myself. I had that day bought tick- 
ets for the two missionaries to go'to Liverpool, and to surren- 
der one would be to incur some loss, but I said I would do 
that in case she decided not to go. However, I advised that 
we think and pray over the matter till the next morning, and 
then decide whether she would proceed on her v way to Africa 
or go home. Much of that night was spent in prayer, espe- 
cially by Mrs. Hadley. With her it was truly a time when 
"weeping may continue for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning." We all met next morning at the brakfast-table, 

107 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

when Mrs. Hadley, with a countenance full of saintliness and 
a tone of cheerfulness, said, "I am going to Africa. My 
father had consented to my going ere I left home, and I feel 
God wants me to go." 

That day was a very busy one with us all, as they were to 
go aboard early next morning, and I wished to leave for Day- 
ton, Ohio, on a night train. For a special reason I did not 
leave New York that Friday night, but went with Mrs. Had- 
ley and Mr. Evans to the steamer next morning. The fare- 
wells had all been said, and the writer stood on the pier close 
to the gangway, where the man stood ready to pull it aboard, 
when a servant from our boarding-house came running with 
all his might with an envelope addressed to Mrs. Hadley, and 
handed it to me. I at once called to the captain to get per- 
mission to deliver it to Mrs. Hadley, which was granted, and 
I ran to her. She opened the envelope and read, "Dear 
daughter, if you. will go to Africa, go with your father's bless- 
ing." She almost leaped for joy, and so did I at such an an- 
nouncement, coming in the nick of time before the steamer 
left. The father had traveled eleven miles on horseback the 
night before to reach an office to send that telegram to the 
daughter whom he had so severely criticised and threatened 
with financial losses but a few days before. The all-night 
praying upon the part of that good woman had moved the 
hand that moves the world. God relieved her of great dis- 
tress, and put a burden upon her father that caused him to 
ride twenty-two miles and spend some money to send his 
blessing to his daughter. Truly God hears prayer, as I have 
many times realized in behalf of myself and others. 

Another remarkable incident took place that Friday even- 
ing in the rooms of the American Missionary Association. As 
the United Brethren Board of Missions had no offices of its 
own in New York, it made the rooms of the American Mis- 
sionary Association its headquarters. One room was called 
the "packing-room," from which the Association was at that 
time shipping large quantities of books, clothing, and provis- 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

ions to its missions among the freedmen in the Southern 
States. The room was in charge of a colored man, who had a 
boy, whom I supposed to be his son, to assist him in his 
work. 

I had bought, in small parcels, quite a number of things to 
go to Africa, all of which were sent to that packing-room to 
be put into strong boxes or barrels to be shipped. As the man 
and boy had been very kind and helpful to me in getting my 
purchases for Africa properly put into boxes and barrels, I 
felt that I ought to show some appreciation of their help. So 
when I was about to leave for the railroad station at five 
o'clock that afternoon, I entered into a short con- 
versation with them. The man's name was Jacob, 
and the boy was called "Boy." After I had talked 
with Jacob a little I turned to the boy and asked 
him his name, and he promptly answered, "Daniel Flickinger 
Wilberforce." A clap of thunder from the sky of that clear 
day could not have surprised me more than to meet my name- 
sake in New York, and to think that I had worked with him 
two afternoons packing goods for Africa, and I had not 
known it. To be assured that there was no mistake in the 
matter, I asked him if he was from Bonthe, in Africa, and 
what had brought him to America, and when he expected to 
return to Africa. I soon learned that the boy was the real 
Daniel F. Wilberforce, who had been named after me in 
February, 1857. I then got from him the story of why he 
was in New York. He had come to America as the nurse of 
a sick missionary and his wife, who had become so debilitated 
by the African fever as to need help en route for home. He 
had spent several months at the home of the man, in one of 
the New England States, and was now awaiting an opportun- 
ity to get passage back to Africa on a sail vessel. 

I immediately saw the officers of the American Missionary 
Association, and told them not to send him back to Africa 
until they had heard from me from Dayton, Ohio. I saw it 
was necessary to stay another night in New York to further 

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Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

look after, the matter. The next forenoon I bought "Todd's 
Lectures to Young Men/' and had my namesake read a page 
of the book. I then completed arrangements to have him come 
to Dayton to be educated, in the event our Executive Com- 
mittee agreed to his doing so. He came to Dayton a few 
weeks later, where he remained from December, 1871, till 
October, 1878. In this time he graduated from "the Dayton 
High School, and, soon after, he was married. He went to 
Africa and became principal of the mission schools there, and 
later took charge of the Eufus Clark Training-School. Be- 
fore they went to Africa he was made a member of the Miami 
Annual Conference, and was ordained to the office of elder in 
the church of Christ. His wife was made mistress of the 
Girls' Home, at Shenge, and housekeeper. They have four 
children, two girls and two boys. The eldest daughter taught 
the school and itinerated at the town of Victoria, the head- 
quarters of Mr. Wilberforce from January 1900 till 1905. 
The youngest daughter attended school there, while the two 
sons were at college fitting themselves for mission service. He 
and his family did valuable work for years. 

These remarkable providences, the one which caused Mrs. 
Hadley's father to telegraph his daughter, and the one which 
led to calling a negro baby by the name of Daniel Flickinger 
Wilberforce, and the remarkable circumstances bringing us 
thus together, with all that has attended our labors in Africa, 
show that God's hand had been upon us and the African 
work. 

I said in my annual report to the Board of Missions, that 
our progress in Africa had been better than ever before, sixty- 
three persons having been baptized, and scores of others 
awakened to their need of salvation. Chief Caulker had for 
months professed faith in Christ, and lived a consistent 
Christian life until his death, which had occurred soon after 
the previous meeting of the Board. To be saved from a 
heathen life at the age of eighty years was a remarkable 
trophy of grace. 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

At that meeting I also gave a comparative statement of 
progress made in the cause of missions for the three preceding 
years, which was as follows : "Three years ago there were one 
hundred and ninety-three home missionaries, eighty-seven in 
the frontier, and three in the foreign fields. These received 
from all sources, $83,381.80. The following year there were 
one hundred and eighty-seven home missionaries, one hun- 
dred and three in the frontier, and four in the foreign fields, 
who received $90,334.44. During the year just closed one 
hundred and seventy-nine home missionaries Were employed, 
one hundred and fourteen in the frontier, and six in the for- 
eign fields, who received $98,781.63. The average salary paid 
our missionaries for the last year was $330.39." This was 
the highest average ever paid up to that time, and for years 
afterward. 



Ill 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

1873-74— Church Erection Prospering— Sabbath Schools Give $3,000 
— Flickinger Chapel at Shenge — Reverses in Germany — Some 
African Experiences. 

This year I recall two things in connection with my work 
that were gratifying, and one that was saddening. The Church 
Erection Society began to show signs of life, and four weak 
societies were helped to build houses of worship this year. A 
second and highly gratifying fact was the way three thousand 
dollars were raised for a church building at Shenge, West 
Africa. There was great need for a commodious and sub- 
stantial house of worship at that place, it being the head- 
quarters of our African mission. How to get the money to 
build it was a question. The Missionary Society was already 
in debt for a good sum, and there were many calls for money 
for the colleges of the Church and for other Church enter- 
prises, making the outlook quite discouraging. I saw some 
hope in the Sabbath schools, and got the sanction of the Board 
of Missions to appeal to our Sunday schools for money to 
build that church in Africa. I showed in the Church papers 
how easily the three thousand dollars could be obtained if 
all the Sunday schools of the Church took hold of it and the 
superintendents took collections for it, The ball rolled slowly 
at first, and remittances were few and far between, but we 
kept it before the schools until many were induced by their 
superintendents and pastors to take collections. These were 
in sums varying from twenty-five cents to five dollars, but 
the entire three thousand dollars were obtained, and the 
much-needed house was built. The size was thirty by forty- 
five feet, the walls of stone and the roof of slate. I dedicated 
it in the spring of the year 1875. Except some seats and the 

112 




DANIEL FLICKIXGER WILBERFORCE 







** 1 


'■■ IBM 




MmtSr- 


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In the Gospel Ministry 

painting of the woodwork, it had been finished and used for 
quite a length of time before. Arriving in Africa in the fall 
of 1874, I found the walls settling out at the top, which would 
have ruined the house during the next rainy season. I pro- 
cured iron rods one inch in diameter, which reached from cor- 
ner to corner near the top of the stone walls, and by this 
means the house was kept in good shape -for many years, or 
until the uprising in May, 1898, when the insurgents partially 
destroyed it. It had been used for the schoolroom for several 
years, and was much used for meetings, but the war of 1898, 
which destroyed so many lives of missionaries and others, and 
so much valuable property, marred it a good deal. The house 
was called Flickinger Chapel, so named by Rev. J. Gomer, 
the writer not having been consulted in that matter. Soon 
after the war of 1898 it was thoroughly repaired, and then 
called Gomer Memorial Chapel, he being buried near it. 

Getting money from the Sunday schools of the Church to 
build that chapel did more to create sympathy and enlist the 
hearty co-operation of our people in behalf of the African 
mission than anything else for a long time. It made it easier 
to get enlarged ■contributions for Africa, and turned the at- 
tention of the Church to that country as never before. Often 
"man's necessity is God's opportunity." 

That house, built near the ocean, often attracted the at- 
tention of people sailing by, and reminded them of the fact 
that it was their duty to love and worship the God of heaven. 
It, with our excellent mission residence, so easily seen from 
passing vessels, made a good impression on many people. 

The sad experience of this year was in connection with 
the German mission, which had been reinforced by sending 
another missionary and wife to that work. Just before they 
reached there the missionary on the ground had received 
twenty-six additional members, making about one hundred 
in all who had united with our Church. It was thought best 
by the missionaries on the ground, soon after the second one 
reached the country, to separate entirely from the state 

8 113 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

church, when only thirty-five members remained with us. 
The state church in Bavaria subjected all who withdrew from 
it to certain privations, respecting which the writer will have 
occasion to write again. The civil authorities after this for- 
bade our missionaries from holding meetings in Bavaria, 
which caused them to go into other places to do missionary 
work. The societies organized in Bavaria still remained to- 
gether, and held meetings on the sly, in such manner that the 
police could not interfere with them. 

I made a great mistake in Africa once preaching on the 
text from John 15 : 4, frequently using the word "vine" in- 
stead of "country rope," as the natives name the vine. My 
interpreter failed to understand the matter, and could not in- 
terpret the word "vine," and hence the real meaning of the 
text was lost to the congregation. 

Another missionary in Freetown and myself, on horseback, 
met a man personating the devil. We were told that we must 
give the road and alight from our horses while his majesty 
was passing. Instead of that we put spurs to the horses and 
the man got out of the way. The Bible injunction was real- 
ized — "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." There 
were quite a number following him, who also got out of th? 
way quickly, and we rode on as if we had not met his satanic 
majesty. 

I spent a night in an African town, on the Boom River, 
whose head man was a noted cannibal. Only a few days be- 
fore one of the men of the town lost himself in a grass field 
near by. Grass fields there are similar to our prairies, except 
that the stalks of grass are from eight to ten feet high, and 
are often half an inch thick. To be lost in such a field, with 
nothing to be seen but the sky above you, is much worse than 
to be lost on our prairies or in the woods of America. This 
lost man wandered about all afternoon and night, and found 
his way back to his town about daylight. Being tired and 
hungry, he took a few palm nuts which were lying near the 
path which lead him into the village. These happened to b?- 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

long to the head man, who had been drank the day before — 
drunk on American whisky. Feeling in bad humor that 
morning he ordered the man killed, which was done instantly. 
No doubt the head man and others ate him, for the town was 
notorious for cannibalism. There, as in other countries, 
alcohol is contributary to almost all the evils that exist. 
heathenism, with thy barbarities, how terrible thou art! 



115 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

1874-75 — Hard Times, But Missions Prospering — German Editor on 
the Temperance Crusade — On the Lookout for the Policemen in 
Germany — Women's Missionary Societies — African Experiences 
— "Big Devil in Pocket." 

Among the events that are very trying to the secretary of a 
missionary society are hard times, and twice during my life I 
have experienced them, in 1857 and 1858, and again in 1873. 
Being called to the secretaryship in May, 1857, the latter part 
of that year I found money was exceedingly scarce, hard to 
get under any circumstances, and well nigh impossible to get 
as a loan for missions. Between these two periods of financial 
stringency there had been considerable debt against our mis- 
sionary treasury most of the time. The appropriations made 
by the board for this year were quite up to the receipts ex- 
pected, even if there had been no hard times, hence I was very 
glad to be able to write the following in my report to the 
Board at its annual meeting in 1874 : 

"Notwithstanding the cry of hard times common in the 
country during the year, there has been no decrease in money 
to the missionary treasury, and all our mission work has been 
successful. Not less than 5,000 persons have been converted 
during the year under the labors of our missionaries, and 
most of them have become members of the Church. The large 
ingathering of members into the churches, and the temperance 
revival in the woman's crusade against the liquor traffic indi- 
cate the near approach of better days for the church of Christ. 
The woman's temperance movement is essentially a missionary 
work." 

I shall never forget an occurrence that took place in the 
hall of the Telescope office this year. The editor of a German 

116 



In the Gospel Ministry 

daily paper, whose office was near the mission room, met me 
as I was going to my office. He had just come up from 
Miamisburg, where he saw women going from one saloon to 
another and kneeling down in the snow and mud and pray- 
ing for the saloonkeepers. Being much excited, himself a 
large, typical beer guzzler, he said he never saw or heard of 
such crazy work. "They vere nice good vimmen, too, only 
they had their heads turned wrong side out by foolish dem- 
perance fanatics. Vat you ting, nice, veil-dressed vimmen 
kneeling down before a saloon or going inside to pray ! Got 
in himmel, vat for crazy work that vas in this free country ! 
Beer is good for helts, and no use to pray for to stop drinking 
it, for ve Germans must have it. Demperance people is fools !" 

And I am here reminded of an experience in Germany, 
while I was filling the office of both presiding elder and 
bishop in that country. It was in the city of Hof. The serv- 
ice was held in a private house standing about ten feet above 
the street, with the gable end of the house next to the street, 
and having two outside doors, one at the side of the house, 
and the other at the rear end. The mistress of the house 
during the Saturday evening services stood at the door at the 
side of the house, frequently looking out along the walk to 
the street. This was done to see if policemen were about. If 
one had put in an appearance she would have made a sign to 
the preacher to sit down. There was no law against people 
sitting in meeting and singing, but to preach was forbidden in 
all but the state churches. On Sunday similar services were 
held, after which we 'all went to the garret, and there broke 
bread and drank wine in memory of Christ's death. 

This year the writer obtained permission of the Board of 
Missions to procure missionary boxes to be given gratis to 
Sunday schools and families who agreed to use them for col- 
lecting missionary money. 

During the year five more societies were helped to build 
houses of worship by the funds of the Church Erection So- 
ciety. 

117 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

The business of the Missionary Visitor was transferred 
from the Missionary Society to the Publishing House by or- 
der of the General Conference, I continuing to tdit it, for 
which $500 was paid to the missionary treasury. 

At the meeting of the Missionary Board this year the fol- 
lowing action was taken : "We recommend the organization 
of women's missionary societies wherever this is practicable 
in the annual conferences, and if the women's missionary 
work should in the future assume the form of a general 
church organization, this Board will give it cheerful and sub- 
stantial help/' 

Missionaries in Africa travel a good deal in rowboats, and 
sometimes, to reach their destination before the tide turned 
against them, they worked their boatmen hard. It is very 
common there to hear them say, "Massa, we tired too much, 
and hungry and tired catch we all at same time." To make 
my men understand when water was boiling, I told them 
that water did not boil until it jumped, and they must not 
take it from the fire till it "jump, jump plenty." 

Soon after we had our farm opened at Shenge, a chief 
came a considerable distance to see us plow. The yoke of 
oxen which drew the plow had one man to drive them and 
another to hold the plow. The chief and his attendants fol- 
lowed quite awhile, giving the African's usual "aw," "ah," 
"hum," and other words of surprise at the performances. Fin- 
ally he could stand it no longer, and he very earnestly de- 
clared that it was wrong to make "cow root the ground, all 
the same like slave or a woman." All cattle are called "cows" 
by them. 

An African mission girl about twelve years of age took 
the instruction given her by the missionaries very liter- 
ally. The missionaries had told the children to pray and ask 
God for whatever they needed, and he would bring good to 
them and keep evil away from them. So this little girl while 
alone prayed, and was heard to say, "0 Lord, give me plenty 
of rice and fish to eat," that being the food they were fed on, 

118 



In the Gospel Ministry 

and then she added, "Please, Lord, give me plenty of clothes 
to wear, and keep snake from bite me, and make me a good 
girl. Amen." 

A woman at Eotifunk, in Africa, had an idol which Mr. 
Gomer and I much wished. She had twin children and one 
had died, and she said the soul of that dead child was in the 
image. We offered her a big price, and, the third day after, 
she brought it, we paying the price offered. In the meantime 
she had had another image made like the one she sold to us, 
and got the witch master to take the soul out of the one we 
bought and put it into the new image. As we would as soon 
have it without a baby's soul in it, all were satisfied. 

Falling asleep in my hammock one day, while my boatmen 
were cooking on shore, some of the natives present held a kind 
of post mortem examination on me. They quietly pushed up 
the sleeve of my coat to see if I was white up my arms. They 
were surprised to find me whiter under the clothing 
than on my hands and face. In the meantime I waked up, 
but feigned to be sleeping, to let them go on with their exami- 
nation. Soon one of them heard my watch tick, when he be- 
came frightened and started to run off, saying, "White man 
have one big devil in his pocket for true, true." Calling them 
I explained what the watch was for, but they left, feeling it 
was not safe to be near me. 



119 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

1875-76 — Visits Africa and Germany — Decide to Continue in Ger- 
many — A Clean Church in Africa — Saved From the Rocks — In 
Glasgow — Divine Healing — War Party in Africa. 

This year was one of great privation and peril to health 
and life itself, and yet a year of victory. It is with deep 
emotion and thanksgiving to God that I recall some of the 
struggles and sore trials through which I passed, and how 
these were blessed to my growth in grace and an increase of 
joy and peace in the. Holy Ghost. 

There were serious difficulties in the way of our success, 
both in Africa and Germany, which it seemed necessary to 
more fully understand. This caused the Executive Committee 
to ask me to visit those missions, and spend as much time as 
would be necessary to learn the real condition of things, and to 
suggest what to do to remove the hindrances in the way of 
success. I therefore sailed from New York, November 14, 
1874, and returned to that city the 13th of May, 1875, and 
telegraphed that I could not get to Dayton, where the Board 
met the same day, till the 15th, which caused the Board to 
put into its minutes the following: "Being unable to come 
to a conclusion in regard to Germany and Africa, the com- 
mittee recommends that action with respect to these fields be 
deferred until Mr. Flickinger can be present with us." 

While I was abroad there was a good deal said in favor of 
abandoning the Germany mission, especially by some minis- 
ters in the Ohio German Conference, hence the perplexity and 
doubts on the part of the committee. The letters I had writ- 
ten respecting Africa had greatly encouraged the Board and 
the Church in respect to that mission, and they were favorably 
disposed to it. I told the Board that I would just as soon vote 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

to discontinue Africa as Germany. I had seen the poor people 
of Germany in their oppressed condition, and believed* that 
they needed to be helped to a larger civil and religions liberty, 
and that onr Church ought to help to do that work. I felt 
deeply the humiliation and wrong of abandoning Germany 
then, and earnestly pleaded for the continuance of the work. 
The following paper was then passed unanimously : "We re- 
gret that the laws of Bavaria, Germany, have been enforced 
against our missionaries there, so as to prevent them from 
preaching the gospel, and we recommend that should the ef- 
fort now being made by our missionaries to secure permis- 
sion to organize our Church there be unsuccessful, that we 
labor in Saxony, or some other part of Germany. Also, that 
$1,200 be appropriated to that mission for the next year." 
The following action was taken respecting the mission in 
Africa : 

"We have abundant reason to praise the great Head . of 
the Church for the success granted during the past year, 
and that through all the opposition to that work the word of 
the Lord was not hindered, and we are more than ever con- 
vinced that the Master desires us to go forward; therefore, 

"Resolved, 1. That we approve the changes made in the work 
by employing native teachers for the schools, so that the mis- 
sionaries can visit the towns adjacent to our mission stations 
to preach to many who are yet in great darkness. 2. We are 
thankful to God for -the completion of the stone chapel at 
Shenge, and the country-built chapel at Bompetook, both 
of which were dedicated to the worship of God by Mr. 
Flickinger before leaving Africa. 3. We approve the course 
of our secretary and the missionaries in organizing societies 
at these places free from polygamy, slavery, poroism, and 
the liquor traffic, and withholding membership from women 
who are wives of men having other wives. 4. That five 
thousand dollars be appropriated to that mission for next 
year." 

It should be born in mind that drinking and trafficking in 

121 



■Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

ardent spirits was no bar to membership in other churches in 
Sierra Leone. Members of the poro, a very objectionable 
secret society, were also admitted to membership by those 
churches. To deny them membership in our Church created 
quite a stir. Some people who had been prominent members 
of the church in Freetown had lived in Shenge several years, 
and had been very active in praying and speaking in our 
meetings. Now that we had organized a church there, it was 
very humiliating to them and trying to us not to take them 
into our organization. They, and some heathen converts 
who loved strong drink and sold it, pleaded earnestly to 
come into the Church. We told them they could attend the 
meetings and sing, pray, and speak, but they could not join 
us till they were ^free from polygamy, drinking rum, and 
secret societies. . The result was that nearly all of them did 
free themselves from all their heathen evils, and united with 
the Church later on. 

I went from New York to Glasgow on the steamer Vic- 
toria, commanded by Captain Hederwick, a typical Scotch- 
man, who said grace at table. He always shot it off without 
a breath, using these words, never more, never less, "0 Lord, 
we thank thee for this provision of thy bounty, pardon our 
sins and accept us. Amen!" There was a kind providence 
which prevented us from running onto rocks the night our 
captain expected to make land. It was dark and rough, as 
most of the voyage was, and he decided to slow down and 
wait for daylight". When morning came we were forty miles 
farther north than he thought, and among rocks so near the 
top of the water that they could be seen. It was weir he had 
slowed down, or we no doubt would have struck rocks. 

I went to an ordinary hotel in Glasgow and paid seven dol- 
lars for two days there, having no extras, only meals and 
bed. I was reminded of the meal a king in Germany had 
ordered, which consisted of eggs and bread, furnished by a 
plain farmer's wife. When he came to pay he was asked an 
enormous price, and the king said, "Eggs and bread must be 

122 



In the Gospel Ministry 

scarce here." "Oh, no," said the woman, "they are not scarce, 
but kings are." Flickingers seemed to be scarce in Glasgow. 
Many fours were connected with this trip. I was appointed 
to make this trip November 4, sailed from New York the 
14th, saw land first on the Irish coast on December 4, reached 
my destination in Germany the 14th, left the 24th, and all in 
the year 1874. 

The German names I had to master was a task for me, such 
as Lobenstein, Wurzbach, Durrenbach, Sonfsengrum, Schoen- 
brumn, Lechenhuegen, Eliasbrunner, Weundarf, etc. 

I reached Liverpool from Germany only two days before I 
sailed to Africa, badly used up with bronchitis, and called on 
a doctor to prescribe. The first thing the doctor said was: 
"You are in bad shape, and you had better go back to Amer- 
ica. You will die going to Africa." I replied that to go to 
America the last of December would be certain death, and my 
only hope was to get into a warm climate. Having come from 
Bavaria, Germany, on a cup of chocolate and a few crackers, 
and having no appetite and a terrible cough, my doctor put 
me on hot Scotch whisky, and urged its free use. On the day 
of sailing he gave me two pint bottles of Scotch whisky, and 
as much cough mixture. I was a very seasick man, and 
reached Africa much enfeebled. I then procured and took a 
quart of cod liver oil with iron in it, and at the end of three 
weeks was well, and did four months' hard work ere leaving 
for America. 1 believe in Divine healing, and experienced 
the same, but through medicines that God blessed. 

On board the ship to Africa there was the most inveterate 
talker I ever heard. He was told by the other passengers that 
he talked too much. Finally he promised that he would not 
say anything for three days, but early on the second day he 
was pouring a torrent of gabble into the ears of others; 
when reminded of the promise he made, he replied that when 
he made that promise the previous day he expected to die that 
night, or he would not have perpetrated such a piece of folly. 
The only time the poetic muse struck me hard was on hearing 

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Fifty-five Years of -Active Life 

this everlasting talker, and I wrote four lines of poetry* 
which, fortunately, I cannot recall now. 

While in Africa this time a war party came to Koolong, 
captured all the wives of the head man there, and his sister. 
Several of these women were members of our Church at 
Bompetook, only, two miles from Koolong. That head man 
and the head man of another town between Shenge and 
Bompetook came to Shenge for protection. We fed them 
and sent them away. Mr. Gomer, superintendent of the mis- 
sion, went to Koolong, and I stayed at Shenge, where for 
three nights I slept with an ax at the head of my bed. Mrs. 
Gomer and the. school girls were also ready to defend them- 
selves, they keeping a large boiler of hot water to throw in the 
faces of an attacking party if the occasion should arise. The 
basement was full of people from the town of Shenge, and all 
in a state of alarm. The war party was finally disbanded by 
our returning to them the fugitives whom they punished for 
misdemeanors. 

Going to see the head man at Tonkoloh, to collect some 
debts he owed the mission, he looked very sad. Inquiring the 
cause, he said, "Been have trouble too much." Laying his 
hand on his heart he said, "Trouble, big, big trouble live 
here." He explained that he had had a palaver with another 
head man and he was worsted, being required to make up a 
large quantity of palm nuts, or be punished. Besides, he owed 
us a considerable sum. If a human countenance ever showed 
despair, his did that day. Several of his wives came to where 
we were, and I told them if they all went to work they could 
pay all their debts, and help our missionary there to build up 
a mission. Those heathen wives clapped their hands for joy 
at the prospect of getting out of debt. 



124 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

1876-77 — A Mission for the Chinese on the Pacific Coast — Woman's 
Missionary Association — Education of D. K. Wilberforce — John 
Caulker, the Mohammedan, in Jail — Testing a Medicine Man's 
Charms — Tom Tucker Orders Silver Spoons — Monkeys. 

I oxce knew an egotistical G-erman who had the good for- 
tune to make considerable money on the sale of a lot of hogs 
he had bought to fatten. When complimented on his good 
fortune, he said that he made the money by keeping his eyes 
open wide and skinned a little. Later on he made another 
venture and lost money. Then he said, "One cannot always 
sometimes tell what the market would be, whether hogs would 
higher up go, or lower down come." My report to the Board 
this year shows that I had my fears and misgivings, bat vic- 
tory came at last. The report said that no less than seven 
thousand members had been brought into our Church the 
past year through the labors of our missionaries. Amid great 
financial depression throughout our country, the receipts to 
our treasury were in excess of the previous year, but it would 
be well for all to keep in mind the fact that as a Church we 
still fell far below the standard of liberality that God's Word 
requires. I said, "Your attention is called to the following 
modes for increasing funds: 1. The publication of well-pre- 
prepared tracts showing the good done. 2. A yearly budget of 
news, facts, and general intelligence respecting our work, to 
be read by our pastors to their people." I had insisted for 
years on an average of one dollar to the member for missions, 
and I felt sure that if pastors would give the people the neces- 
sary information in regard to the world's needs, and our duty 
to supply them, as taught in the Scriptures, that standard 

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Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

could be reached, and it would give the Board at least twice 
as much money as it had, and the Conferences also. 

The annual report also had the following respecting the 
Chinese mission: "The opportunity offered us to give the 
gospel to the heathen who come to our shores, where it can be 
done so much cheaper than to go to China, ought not longer 
be unimproved." The Board adopted the following: "We 
look favorably to the projection of a mission station at some 
point on the Pacific Coast, with the specific view of the 
evangelization of the Chinese, and we recommend that the 
corresponding secretary ascertain, as soon as possible, where 
such station should be located." The following was also 
adopted by the Board : "Resolved, That we call the attention 
of our people throughout the Church to the importance of 
holding monthly missionary prayer-meetings, for the pur- 
pose of awakening a deep interest in the missionary work, and 
securing a more general outpouring of the Holy Spirit for its 
prosecution." I had pressed this matter until the General 
Conference put it in the Discipline as a part of the pastor's 
duty, and until a number of places had such meetings. I re- 
call with great pleasure the fact that Dayton First Church had 
these meetings, and they were generally the best of the month. 

During this year the Woman's Missionary Association was 
organized, a step in the right direction, and not taken any too 
soon. The Church Erection Society helped to build five new 
houses of worship. 

My namesake from Africa had been in the high school in 
Dayton a couple of years, and did well, but up to the preced- 
ing year little was done to educate him in music, some mem- 
bers of the Board thinking mission money ought not to be 
used to teach music, and especially instrumental music. Not 
a few in the Church were then opposed to instrumental music 
in public worship. Quietly and carefully I had Mr. Wilber- 
force take some music lessons, but at this annual meeting the 
matter was discussed at length, and finally the following was 
adopted by the Board : "That the Executive Committee con- 

126 



In the Gospel Ministry 

tinue Daniel Flickinger Wilberforce at high school in Dayton, 
Ohio, two years longer, and furnish him such instruction in 
vocal and instrumental music as would fit him to teach the 
same upon his return to his native land." 

. The success and reverses of our foreign missions during 
this year brought some facts to light which gave me a good 
deal of anxiety, but all ended well. In Germany consider- 
able success had attended the. labors of the lone missionary 
outside of Bavaria, but in Africa there was much to impede 
progress. The report of the superintendent of that field, Rev. 
J. Gomer, will tell the story. He wrote in January, 1876: 
"At the beginning of the year Satan went to work in earnest, 
putting forth every effort in his power to hinder the progress 
of the gospel in this field of labor. He selected for his prime 
agent John Caulker, a Mohammedan, a very energetic and 
daring man. Thanks be to God who has given us the victory, 
John Caulker and his accomplices are in Freetown jail, and 
all their efforts to put out the fire which the gospel has kin- 
dled have only acted as so much oil thrown into the flames. I 
cannot describe to you the effects produced upon the minds of 
the people throughout the country by the capture of Caulker 
and his war party by the government of Sierra Leone. We 
missionaries and our little band of converts are filled with joy 
and gladness, not because John Caulker is in jail, but because 
God is bringing good out of this war. A number of slaves 
have lost their masters, and three masters, who are professors 
of religion, have lost their slaves. Smallpox has been raging 
for two months and many have died. As soon as they are 
taken with it they are carried into the bush, or farm shed. 
Many come from neighboring villages to attend worship at 
Shenge. I have received ten into the Church, and nine into 
the seekers' class during the quarter, and two have died." 

One of the most amusing things which occurred in Africa, 
just before I left in 1875, was the treatment some of the 
natives gave a medicine man, who had a charm that he said 
would keep war from coming to their town, and that would 

127 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

keep everybody from hurting them. He was told that if it 
would do that they would pay him big money, but before they 
did so they would try it on him. They then tied him to a tree 
and told him they would flog him unless his gregree, or 
charm, kept them from doing so, and that he should do his 
best to make it work. The villagers gave him an unmerciful 
flogging, and then threw his charms into the sea. One of our 
missionaries fished them out and I brought them to the 
United States. I showed them often to congregations when 
explaining the superstitions of the people and how they' were 
imposed on by witch masters and medicine men. The people 
of that village had been enlightened by our missionaries for 
several years. 

Another somewhat amusing and significant object-lesson 
was taught me by an order I got, just before leaving Africa, 
from Tom Tucker, then the head man of laborers at the mis- 
sion. He had come there a naked, ignorant creature. He had 
been converted some years before, and now appeared before me 
well dressed. He gave me an order for silver spoons, dishes, 
knives and forks, chairs, bedding, and other articles, the 
whole amounting to nearly $100, to be sent him from New 
York. I said, "Tom, you can't afford these things," but he 
replied that he could, and forthwith produced the money. 
Being head man and captain of the boat, he received twice as 
much wages as common laborers. "Massa," said Tom, "I eat 
biscuit (meaning bread such as we eat), and I drink- tea and 
put sugar in it, all the same like a white man, and I sit at 
table, and no more eat with fingers ; why, massa, I done turn 
white man, clear all over, and must live, dress, and act like 
white man, so you send these things from New York." I did, 
and Tom paid for all, and enjoyed sitting at a table to eat. 

There were amusing experiences in Africa sometimes when 
rowing boats along the river. Monkeys and parrots would 
follow our boats, singing, chattering, and making all kinds of 
noises in so friendly a way as to make the impression that 
they were trying to visit with us. The monkeys would jump 

128 




REV. R. N. WEST AND AVIFE 




IN AFRICA 



In the Gospel Ministry 

from tree to tree and break off small twigs from the branches 
and throw them at us. The parrots would make much ado, 
whistling, chattering, and singing. Once one of the boatmen 
shot a monkey in the shoulder, when it put its other paw up to 
the wound and cried pitifully, but did not try to run away. 
The next shot brought it down dead. I never allowed my men 
to shoot monkeys afterwards, though they loved to eat their 
nice, sweet flesh, which I never tasted but once, however. 

African children are usually easily governed, but we had 
one boy at Shenge, about eight years old, who was incor- 
rigible. Whipping him and making him work during play 
hours did not reform him in the least. Mr. Gomer concluded 
to shut him up in the basement of our residence, which was 
dark and used only for mission supplies. When first put in he 
screamed at the top of his voice, but after a while subsided. 
The second time he was put in for the night he did not even 
cry, and .we wondered at the change. Next morning we saw 
that a barrel of crackers had been opened and a cheese cut, 
and considerable of both had disappeared. He had eaten his 
fill and was happy. It seemed he never was happy unless he 
was doing wrong things, and all efforts at reformation were 
unavailing. We sent him to his mother, who was a widow, 
but he went from bad to worse, and was doing prison service 
when last heard from. 



129 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

1877-78 — Sold Stove to Attend Circus — Firmness in the Chair — 
Chinese Mission on the Coast — Windowless in Kentucky. 

As 1876 was the centennial of the nation, many people 
from abroad visited this country, and spent considerable 
money attending the exposition at Philadelphia, and seeing 
other places of interest in the United States. Nearly every- 
body in this country who could attend that exposition did so. 
and some used the money that they had. formerly given to 
missions for that purpose. Money given to benevolences was 
decreased, rather than increased by the exposition. In some 
instances people sold needed articles to get money to attend 
the exposition; not unlike the family in southern Indiana 
some years before, who sold their cooking-stove to get money 
to attend Barnum's show. At a conference held in that 
neighborhood soon after, I delivered a missionary address, in 
which I said that no doubt the congregation to whom I was 
then talking had paid out more money to see Barnum's show 
than they had given to missions in a year. There was present 
a man who doubted the truthfulness of that statement, and 
he investigated the matter far enough to be satisfied that it 
was true. That is the man who told about the poor family 
selling their cooking-stove so that father, mother, and their 
seven children could all attend the show. It is remarkable 
what sacrifices people make to see curious, funny things, and 
what excuses some professed Christians make for not paying 
missionary money. 

To help get the United Brethren Church to pay an average 
of one dollar to the member, I favored the organization of the 
Woman's Missionary Association. The opposition to that 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

movement from some leading men in the Church, including 
two bishops, a president of a college, and some members of the 
Board of Missions, like the opposition to the African and 
Germany missions, and the organization of Church Erection 
Society, was not only strong, but unkind at' times. It was 
truly said by one of the most aggressive, efficient, and godly 
bishops the United Brethren Church ever had, referring to a 
high official in the Church, that every railroad train had to 
have one or more brakemen, and every board in the Church 
had to have one or more members in it to check the speed of 
the work it was carrying forward. Thank Cod, there were 
some courageous, hard-working men, who believed that what 
ought to be done could be done, and would be, by proper 
effort, and who were willing to aid to the best of their abil- 
ity- 
One thing I had to do when in German}^, in 1876, was to 
teach temperance to our ministers there. To organize that 
body into a mission district, and to ordain several native 
ministers to the office of elder, a minister of another church 
was called to assist. I demanded that they endorse the 
United Brethren Discipline, which teaches that the vending 
and using of ardent spirits could not be engaged in by mem- 
bers of our Church. Our man in charge of the mission and 
the man from the other church were against me. I, being in 
the chair, told them there could be no organization and no 
ordination without an absolute pledge upon their part to 
live up to the Discipline, and insisted that all members of 
the Church do the same. The only thing they could do was to 
make such a pledge, and the organization and ordination took 
place. 

In view of all the causes hindering the getting of money 
for missions, I was cheered with the fact that by bequests and 
special gifts for the African industrial school more money 
came to it and to the treasury than usual. In my annual re- 
port this year I reminded the Board that the executive com- 
mittee had not found a man for the Chinese mission on the 

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Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Pacific Coast, and added the following extract from a letter 
written by a minister in Oakland, California: "About two 
hundred and forty thousand Chinese have come to this coun- 
try, of whom one hundred and twenty thousand are yet here, 
the others having gone back or died. They are already so 
numerous as to establish for themselves a complete social, 
moral, and commercial community of their own customs, mor- 
alities, and religion. Throughout California they have their 
temples, idols, priests, and heathen rites, and are corrupting 
our morals, distracting our churches, and degrading the whole 
class of manual laborers. Let us see to it that the results do 
not prove as evil as slavery did." 

The following from my report to the General Conference 
is suggestive : "Our foreign mission work has taught us the 
highest form of benevolence. We give, expecting no return 
save that which accrues from the grateful acknowledgment 
of the saved heathen; yea, without so much as hoping to see 
those who are benefited by our gifts until we shall meet them 
before the judgment seat of Christ. It has taught us another 
valuable lesson; namely, that it is safe to engage in large 
undertakings for God. He sometimes leads churches and 
nations into places where they are compelled to undertake 
and accomplish great things or be dishonored, not to say de- 
stroyed. Had we known in 1861, when our late war com- 
menced, what a task it would be to crush the rebellion, the 
sacrifice of life, and treasure, and happiness that would be re- 
quired, we would have despaired of saving our country, and 
perhaps ceased all effort. As we got deeper into it we realized 
fully the fact that we had to make great sacrifices to get out, 
or be hopelessly disgraced as a nation. In the providence of 
God we commenced a mission in Africa over twenty years ago, 
which was then for us no small undertaking; but it has 
grown so that it needs thrice the number of laborers and five 
times the amount of money now that it did at the beginning 
of the last decade. We are so deep in the work there that 
we must go forward or be disgraced in the eyes of God and 

132 



In the Gospel Ministry 

men. The heathen there would rise np in judgment and con- 
demn us if we did not.* 7 

Some people have to be married to missions on both sides 
of the count}' line, like the man who got his license in one 
State, and by the thoughtlessness of the minister, was mar- 
ried in another. The road was the line, and the house hap- 
pened to be on the other side. It was Sunday morning, and a 
meeting was going on in the neighborhood, but the pastor 
bethought himself and went back from the meeting and had 
the couple walk across the road, and he remarried them in the 
same State and county in which the license was issued. No 
house was there, and the snow was on the ground, but stand- 
ing in a fence corner they were legally made husband and 
wife. 

The writer spent three weeks in Kentucky soon after the 
Civil War. He went to visit, our missionaries and help them. 
During that time he had some wearisome horseback rides. He 
preached in United Brethren churches and in schoolhouses 
that had no windows, and was in a new parsonage that was 
without windows. It was built of logs, twenty by twenty-four 
feet, and had a cooking-stove near the one door in it, and a 
great fireplace not far from the stove in the end of the house. 
While the missionary's wife was getting dinner the door stood 
ajar to furnish her light, to my discomfort, for it was a cold 
November day. In one of our churches, about thirty by forty 
feet in size, with only one door and a great fire-place in it, 
the sexton left the door stand ajar till I had read the Scrip- 
ture lesson and my text. After that the door was shut and 
we conducted the services in the dark. There were present a 
large congregation on Sabbath, but not a vehicle was in 
sight. Many came horseback. Farmers hauled their wood, 
fodder, and other things on sleds. The women, most of them, 
dipped. To dip is to have a nice smooth stick and some pul- 
verized tobacco, and with the stick the tobacco is rubbed over 
the teeth. Some also chewed tobacco, and most of them 
looked sallow and unhealthy. I preached in more than a 

133 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

dozen different places, and had very good meetings. They 
seemed to appreciate the privilege of attending God's house, 
and heartily entered into the services. 



134 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

1878-79— Fifth Wheel to the Missionary Society — Hon. Carl Schurz — 
Advice to College Faculties and the Bishops — Talked Too Much 
in Germany — A Fighting Man at the Camp-Meeting. 

It is said that a teacher of hygiene received the following 
note from the mother of one of her pupils : "Please doant 
learn Johnny any moar about his insides, as it makes him 
sassy." I was charged with being a little saucy 'and meddle- 
some, and perhaps justty, during this year. Before reviewing 
these things I wish to insert the following respecting church 
erection, taken from my report .to the Board of Missions : 
"So little has been accomplished in this department of our 
work, that but for the necessity of saying something I would 
gladly pass it by. There have been about fifty applications, 
requiring some labor and expense to answer them, and only 
four hundred and seventy-nine dollars and ten cents were col- 
lected for that purpose last year. We ought to do more or 
quit." 

In view of the opposition to church erection, it was made 
a fifth wheel to the missionary wagon, its interests being com- 
mitted to the Board of Missions. There were three hundred 
and fifty-seven missionaries to be provided for then," and 
hence but little could be done for church erection. 

During this year I corresponded with the Hon. Carl Schurz, 
Secretary of the Interior, at Washington, D. C, asking recog- 
nition by the United States Government for our Church, so 
that our Board of Missions might be placed on an equality 
with other mission boards in recommending suitable persons 
to be appointed as Indian agents. I showed Mr. Schurz that 
religious denominations smaller than ours, doing less mis- 
sionary work than we, were upon the list, and that we ought 

135 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

to be there. Mr. Schurz wrote that the Indian agencies had 
all been divided among certain denominations, and no new 
division could be made without their consent, but possibly a 
transfer could be made to us by our corresponding with them. 
I had more sense than to undertake that, and nothing further 
was attempted. 

I had given much help in many ways to the cause of educa- 
tion, and had been a trustee for years of the Church's prin- 
cipal college, and of its theological seminary for a time. I 
wrote in the Telescope as follows, under the heading, "Push 
Things": "The conferences cooperating with our colleges 
ought to send three hundred additional students to Lebanon 
Valley College, four hundred to Otterbein University, one 
hundred to Smithville, two hundred to Hartsville, one hun- 
dred \o Eoanoke and Green Hill each, three hundred to West- 
field and Western each, and one hundred each to Shenan- 
doah, Avalon, Lecompton, Philomath, Edwards Academy, 
and Elroy Seminary. I have reserved one hundred each to be 
ready for the academies soon to be opened in California and 
Fostoria. I insist upon it that the faculties in our colleges 
and teachers in our schools go out among the people soliciting 
students for the institutions which employ them. Let the in- 
scription on their banner be ' Twenty-five hundred additional 
students in United Brethren schools/ M 

During this year I also wrote an article under the heading, 
"Our Bishops and Missions Again." In a former article it 
was shown that the bishops of some other churches, especially 
the Methodist and the Episcopal, were spending considerable 
time holding missionary meetings, and that it ought not be 
longer delayed by our bishops. As general superintendents, 
they ought to give the missionary work much attention. I 
maintained that the growth, spiritually, and liberality of the 
Church would be greatly promoted by increasing missionary 
zeal among our people. I suggested that at the approaching 
annual conferences arrangements be made for at least one 
missionary meeting of two days to be held in each presiding 

136 



In the Gospel Ministry 

elder's district, and all the pastors be urged to attend. I also 
advised that missionary addresses be delivered on commence- 
ment days in our colleges, or in baccalaureate sermons. I 
said our bishops all did work enough, but some of it could be 
done as well by others, who could not do so well in missionary 
work, not being so familiar with mission fields and their 
needs as were the bishops, who visited annually fourteen mis- 
sion conferences, and who were members of the Board of Mis- 
sions. Their position in the Church gave them better oppor- 
tunities for helping the cause of missions than the ordinary 
pastor possessed. 

In this article published in the Church organ, I again 
showed that there should be at least an average of one dollar 
to the member given annually to missions, and that we fell 
far below that, and hence everybody from bishops down to 
the boys and girls in Sunday school should be awakened, and 
their best efforts enlisted in increasing missionary funds. 

For writing such an article, and for exhorting college 
faculties to become solicitors for students for their respective 
schools, I was severely criticised and censured. Indeed, it 
was hinted to me that my mouth and pen should be stopped, 
or something done to cause me to cease meddling. It was not 
done, however, as effectually then as it was once in Germany. 
The presiding elder of the Germany district and I were going 
to a quarterly meeting in a sleigh, and were caught in a snow- 
storm. The snow lodged on my beard and froze. When we 
reached the hotel where we took dinner my mustache had 
become a chunk of ice, closing my mouth effectually, and I 
could not open it until the ice was thawed enough to pull it 
off. While standing at the stove warming, I remarked to the 
presiding elder that the German Empire ought to have 
twenty-eight fewer kings and governors, and that these high 
officials who were drawing large pay ought to take the places 
of the women we saw that day in the snow breaking stone on 
the turnpike road in such cold weather. That presiding elder 
told me to be still, or the police would land me in jail if they 

137 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

heard me talk that way. Thinking he was jesting, I repeated 
the remark, when he hurriedly took me to one side and told 
me that nothing but my poor German had saved me, for there 
were men there who asked him what I said. It was a very 
foolish thing on my part to talk as I did. General Grant was 
then president of the United States, and it would have been 
an expensive thing to send an army to Germany to get me. out 
of jail-. 

I attended a camp-meeting about fifteen miles from Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, when about sixteen }^ears of age, where, just 
after a shower, three rowdies rode inside the circle of tents 
and got more than half way around when a stone struck the 
leader on the side of his head and knocked him from his horse. 
There was a preacher there, a large man, who had been a pro- 
fessional boxer and fighter before he was a Christian, who saw 
the three men maliciously ride onto the ground, making it so 
muddy that pedestrians could not get around well, and he 
slyly got behind a tent and threw a stone that brought the 
leader to the ground. That preacher was the first man to 
speak to him, and he said, "My friend, there is a minister 
here who was a great fighter, and he will pummel you men 
good if you don't get away from here." He helped him onto 
his horse and the three left, swearing that they would come 
back that night and break up the camp-meeting, but they did 
not attempt it. It was then about four o'clock in the after- 
noon, but there was no more disturbance at that meeting, 
which lasted three days. That same preacher, at another 
camp-meeting, where the ground on one side of the tents 
slightly ascended, caught a young man kicking the props from 
under the wheels of the wagons and buggies, causing them to 
run down against the tents. He took him by the back of his 
neck and the seat of his trousers and carried him to a bank 
close by and pitched him down a declivity which was almost 
perpendicular, landing him about ten feet from where he 
started. That ended that kind of pastime during the camp- 
meeting. 

138 



In the Gospel Ministry 

I was present once at a meeting in a barn when a Methodist 
Episcopal preacher stood on a Windsor chair. He stamped 
his foot and one of the chair legs gave way, but he quickly 
stepped on another chair close by, saying it was not the heavy 
theology that broke that chair, but his "corporosity." He 
was a man who weighed two hundred pounds, and often got 
happy preaching, and would stamp with one foot. That time 
he nearly toppled. 



139 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

1879-80 — An Eventful Year — Organized Mission Districts in Germany 
and Africa — Experiences in Germany — Injustice to the Down- 
trodden— -Church Erection Growing — Sight-seeing Reserved for 
Heaven. 

This year was perhaps the most eventful of all the fifty- 
five years of my ministerial life. I spent six weeks in Ger- 
many, and organized a mission district there December 10, 
1879, then went to Africa, spending many days and nights 
traveling in a rowboat, and organized a mission district there 
March 20, 1880. During my stay in Africa the deed was 
obtained for a mission site of one hundred and sixty acres of 
land at Eotifunk for the Woman's Missionary Association. 
That place had been occupied by Miss Beeken, and afterward 
by Mrs. Mair, for several years, and the Woman's Missionary 
Association had shipped material to Africa to build a mission 
residence there before they had a deed for land upon which 
to build. Learning that Chief Eichard Caulker had prom- 
ised to call the head men together to sign a deed, but had not 
done so, Mr. Gomer and I went to hunt him, for he had been 
hiding away. We found him, and got all together, and had 
the deed signed after three days and nights of great annoy- 
ance caused by mosquito bites, heathen intrigue, and duplic- 
ity. 

Among the important questions that I had to settle, both in 
Germany and Africa, was how to organize mission districts 
in those countries with the missionaries who were then em- 
ployed there. In Germany our superintendent, Eev. C. Bischoff, 
had taken into the Church several ministers from other 
churches, with only quarterly conference license to preach. In 
Africa Eev. J. Gomer had also employed several missionaries in 
the same way. Now the question was as to whether it would be 

140 



In the Gospel Ministry 

proper to organize mission districts in Germany and Africa 
with only one annual conference member in each. There 
were six suitable persons on each field ready to come into 
such organization, and the condition of the work demanded 
that it be done, and done it was, putting both missions in ex- 
cellent shape to do effective work. 

The organization of the German mission district had the 
following missionaries as its charter members : Eevs. C. 
BisehofC G- Xoetztfld, F. Holeshuer, H. Oehlschlegel, 
G. Gottschalk, and H. Barkemeyer. Five of these were men 
in the active ministry. There were thirty-four preaching 
places, and two hundred and thirty-five members, organized 
into eleven classes. It will be remembered that only five 
years before the Ohio German Conference and Board of Mis- 
sions were both ready to give it all up. 

Then, it was truly' gratifying to go to Africa, and after 
visiting all the preaching places there to organize a mission 
district consisting of J. Gomer, D. F. Wilberforce, J. C. Saw- 
yer, J. P. Hero, J. W. Pratt, and B. W. Johnson. I will never 
forget my feelings and impressions as I saw the work taking 
form in such a substantial way. 

I nder the heading, "Farewell to Germany," I wrote as 
follows to the Religious Telescope December 12, 1879 : "I 
have spent six weeks upon your soil, coming when you were 
beautifully green with grass, and leaving when you were 
frozen and white with snow. I have ridden on your railroads 
nearly two thousand miles, traveled in open buggy one hun- 
dred and fifty miles, in a sleigh one hundred miles, and some 
miles in mail coaches and afoot. I have seen many of your 
hills and valleys. Your old fortresses, bridges, churches and 
residences I looked upon with admiration, remembering that 
three, four, five, and even more hundred years ago the 
identical stone floors upon which I stood in your churches 
were put there, as well as the stone arches in your bridges, 
and the grand architecture in your fortresses. I also saw the 
entrances into many of v } r our beer and wine cellars, but did 

141 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

not enter them, nor allow their contents to enter me. I also 
saw your horse, cattle, dog, and goat teams, and, what was 
painful to me, your women bearing burdens which were so 
heavy that some other way ought to have been employed to 
carry them, instead of the weaker sex. I also ate of your 
black and white bread, your soup, potatoes, apples, goose, 
rabbit, and beefsteak, drank your coffee, which was good and 
otherwise, your tea which you do not know how to make, 
slept in your feather beds, mingled with your people in their 
residences, at public houses, and in the sanctuary. I saw 
much to admire in your midst, but some things to despise 
and even hate. Your industry, economy, well-raised children, 
your courtesy to strangers, your honesty and general good 
behavior are to be praised and imitated, but your Sabbath 
desecration, neglect of God's house, beer and wine drinking, 
are to be deplored. The severe treatment of your poor people, 
especially the women, and your unwillingness to grant relig- 
ious liberty are to be hated, and hate them I will, now and 
forever. Then your cold railroad cars and unwarmed churches, 
with stone floors and three galleries, ought to be abolished — 
that is, the cold ought to be abolished. There are other 
things you ought to do. Cease to build such narrow and 
steep stairways as to make it unsafe to go upon them. Do 
not put your looking-glasses so high up that a man of ordi- 
nary size must stand on tip-toe to see his chin, and then do 
put them long side up and down, instead of sideways, for 
since the days of Adam till now there is more length than 
breadth to that part of creation needing looking glasses. Put 
soap in your bedrooms in hotels. Americans never think of 
ordering it when they go to bed at night, and many Germans 
and some others will not do so to save expenses, hence many 
get a poor wash in the morning. Farewell, Germany, I for- 
give all, though I shall not forget two days when snow froze 
on my beard, forming ice an inch thick, and the cold almost 
froze my nose." 

Owing to the great injustice done to the down-trodden of 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

America, and our Board being denied a share in helping to 
furnish agents to the Indians, as related in a former chapter, 
the Board, at its meeting in 1879, put the following upon its 
minutes: "Resolved, That the unjust discrimination becom- 
ing so general in this country against Negroes, Chinese, and 
Indians, is to be deplored. The Indians have been forcibly 
deprived of their lands, and on account of being shamefully 
treated and outraged, do at times resent these wrongs, and the 
Africans, because they were forcibly reduced to chattels, and 
have retained their God-given rights, are despised, misused, 
and cruelly wronged, but we are none the less under obliga- 
tions to them, as we are to others. They bear the image of 
God. Christ died for them, and hence they have claims upon 
our sympathy, benevolence, and efforts for their civilization." 
I also recommended again at this meeting the publication of a 
missionary quarterly, and the publication of tracts to be read 
by pastors to their people, aud a plan to receive missionary 
money in weekly, monthly, or quarterly installments. I 
showed that many could be induced to pay five or ten cents a 
week who never could pay five dollars at one time. I also 
showed that the Missionary Visitor, having now a circulation 
of nearly forty thousand, was doing a good work for all the 
benevolent institutions of the Church. 

Mr. Wilberforce, the native African who had been brought 
to Dayton, Ohio, and educated at the expense of the Church, 
had married well, and was in Africa doing good work. The 
Church Erection Society did better this year than it ever did 
before. In all, forty churches had been helped, none to large 
sums, but enough to stimulate them to erect houses of wor- 
ship. This, considering the fact that ever since the organiza- 
tion of the society, only ten years before, it was operated as a 
side line, was gratifying. The treasurer of the Missionary 
Society had put forth special effort during the year in its 
behalf, which helped to bring about this cheering result. 

I was chided by different persons for not turning aside to 
see the big .trees in California, and the great sights in Ger- 

143 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

many and England. I felt that my time belonged to the cause 
of missions, and never could have devoted the time to sight- 
seeing without neglecting or omitting certain interests con- 
nected with my work. To silence a person on one occasion 
who chided me for not going out of my way to see the 
pyramids of Egypt and the great things in Europe, I gave 
the following answer : "I expect to get to heaven when done 
with earth, and will see more wonderful things there in a 
week than I could see on earth in a year, and with less fatigue 
and cost," Of the nearly six hundred thousand miles I have 
traveled, most of them were in the interest of missions. I am 
quite sure that I was a happier man sticking to my work, 
and conscientiously doing what I felt was my duty, than to 
allow either the flattery or censure of men to cause me to 
turn aside. 



144 



CHAPTEKXXX. 

1880-81 — Transformations in Africa — The Spiritual Need of Germany 
— More About Germany — State Churches — Head-Men's Sons as 
Mission Boys — Fate of the Boys. 

Xo wonder that a great American statesman said, "One 
with God is a majority," and that Martin Luther could say, 
"I will go to Worms, though there are as many devils there 
as tiles upon the housetops." 

The tide had made a favorable turn in the affairs of both 
Africa and Germany, though the converts were less than 
three hundred in Africa. Mr. Gomer wrote, just before the 
Board met in 1881, "Five new members have been received 
into the Church at Shenge, and the Sabbath is well observed 
here and elsewhere where our schools are located. To com- 
pare ten years ago with the present, it does not seem like the 
same place. Then every farm had its medicine, and every hut 
its devil-house, or sabbe-house. The latter is where the spirits 
of the old people are supposed to dwell. Xow there are many 
villages where none of these things are seen." ^ 

Our missionaries, besides keeping up day schools and Sun- 
day schools, did a good deal of itinerating into neighboring 
towns preaching the gospel. They also had weekly meetings for 
prayer and Bible study, thus training native converts for 
teachers and preachers. These things, with the building of 
mission residences, chapels, schoolhouses, procuring shops, 
managing farms, and building boats to travel in, were a 
heavy tax upon the time and energy of missionaries. 

Of Germany, I said in my report that though Germany was 
a land of schools and learned men, there was great need of 
just such mission labor as we were doing there. The people 
were heavily taxed to support their civil and military insti- 

10 145 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

tutions, and it was only by the most rigid economy that the 
poor could make ends meet, owing to the low price paid for 
labor. To be required, under these circumstances, to pay for 
building state churches, and pay pastors and choirs, had given 
them great disgust for their religious services, which fur- 
nished little food for mind or soul. The majority of the peo- 
ple never went to church, except upon funeral or extraordi- 
nary occasions. Many pastors went to beer houses to drink 
during the week, and when Sunday came most of the people 
went to these places of resort, leaving the pastors to preach 
to empty pews. I said that that country needed our help to 
reform its drink habits, the desecration of the Lord's day, and 
to teach the people experimental godliness. As a Church we 
were only repaying a just debt to Germany for giving us the 
good and great Otterbein. We had at that time nine missions 
and two hundred and ninety-seven members. The people 
there, though very poor, paid three hundred and fifty dollars 
the previous year. 

I will add a few extracts from letters written in Germany, 
which properly belonged to the previous chapter : "Geese are 
important in Germany for both their flesh and feathers. They 
grow quite large, are good to eat, and their feathers constitute 
the largest part of the beds here. With a foot of feathers under 
you and half that thickness over you, you can sleep com- 
fortably with the thermometer anywhere from zero to seventy 
degrees Fahrenheit. I am chilly most of the day, for they do 
not keep warm houses, and the weather is cold and damp, 
so during the day I have chills, and at night fever. I am be- 
ginning to like feather beds and goose meat. With one on 
both sides of you, and the other in you, there is danger of be- 
coming a little goosy, for which you must make allowance." 

"The prayer repeated before meals here is, "Gott loo und 
dank fur speise und drank/ To this they ought to add 
'federn,' which would make the prayer in English, 'God be 
praised and thanked for food, drink, and feathers.' Building 
up missions in Germany is a slow work, and carrying forward 

146 



In the Gospel Ministry 

miscion work in Western Africa, where there is no written 
language, and where cannibalism, slaver}-, witchcraft, por- 
oism, and polygamy exist in their most horrible forms, and 
where superstition enters into everything, is difficult." 

One of our missionaries lived in Saalfield, with whom the 
writer spent several days. It was here the notorious Tetzel 
at one time held forth, proclaiming to his hearers that he had 
the authority to sell indulgences, saying to them in Ger- 
man : 

"Sobald das Geld in Kasten klingt, 
Sobald die Seele in Himmel springt." 

The English is: 

"Soon as the rattle of money is heard in the chest, 
So soon will the soul go to heaven and find rest." 

It is said that a certain man bought several indulgences 
from Tetzel, the latter giving him liberty to do certain things, 
and after paying for them he told Tetzel he wanted to do 
something that he did not wish to tell, and would pay a good 
price for permission to do so. Tetzel agreed to give him the 
indulgence, for which the man paid him. Tetzel soon left 
that place to go to another town to ply his vocation, and this 
man followed and overtook him in a lonely spot, and waylaid 
and beat him, and took from him all the money he had paid 
him and much more. When Tetzel remonstrated and told him 
how wicked it was to beat and rob him, he replied he had paid 
well for doing that thing, and do it he did, thoroughly. 

While in Saalfield I attended a quarterly meeting, when 
our congregations, in the pastor's house, numbered from thirty 
to fifty. At the close of the forenoon meeting on Sabbath I 
went to the state church, which cost probably seventy thou- 
sand dollars, and there I found eleven women, one old man, 
the sexton, and the preacher delivering a learned discourse. I 
was told that often only one-half that number attended, 
though that was the only church in a city of eight thousand. 

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Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Three pastors were employed, they having -also several vil- 
lages to look after, which, however, had no church-houses, 
nor were services held in them. That magnificent church had 
three galleries, and was built during Martin Luther's time, he 
having preached in it. 

David Kosambo and Alex Doomaboy were the first mission 
boys we received in Africa. Children were then given to the 
missionaries by their parents to rear, educate, and train in 
Christian life and work. Boys were required to do whatever 
useful work they were capable of doing, such as bringing 
wood and water and cultivating the ground, and girls were 
taught household duties. When these two boys came to the 
mission they had some bad habits, and being sons of head 
men of towns, they were much averse to work. They would 
say at first, "Slaves and girls for work, but not head men's 
boys." They would steal, and look one straight in the face 
and lie. They both learned rapidly in school, and were good 
singers and talkers. In short, they were smart boys. 

Before they could speak English well David was asked to 
tell about the Sabbath-school lesson for the day. He said : 
"The teacher done say that time when Jesus was born there 
were some persons there for mind sheep and goats, and one 
angel come. He shine like sun. Dem people afraid of um, 
and he say, C I no come to make you afraid, I come to bring 
you glad tidings that a Savior is born,' and his mama put him 
in same place dem cow stay." Coming from prayer-meeting 
one night he was asked what lesson had been read. He re- 
plied : "They been read about dem people who had meeting, 
who had a gate dat dey called beautiful, and they carry one 
man that no able walk, and put him there to beg dem people 
for copper (they call all money copper), and Peter and John 
say to him, c l no got copper, but that thing we done got we 
give you; you get up and walker,' and that man began to 
walker one time." Once I met Alex when he had a very sore 
neck, and I said, "I pity you." He at once replied, "Do you 
pity me one shilling ? If so, den give it to me." 

148 



Iii the Gospel Ministry 

David became a pronounced Christian and one of the fore- 
most students, not only in Africa, but in America. When he 
had finished Ins second year in high school in Dayton, Ohio, 
he died, and had one of the largest funerals ever witnessed 
in that city. The principal of the Dayton high school said 
at his funeral that he had never known a better-balanced 
mind than David's, for he excelled in all branches of study, 
including music. He was greatly interested in his people, and 
was qualifying himself to go to Africa as a missionary when 
God took him to heaven. Alexander received as good an 
education in Africa as could be given in the Clark Training 
School, and became a teacher. Though a professed Christian, 
he was not free from sins common to Africans in that coun- 
try^ and little by little drifted into rebellion against God and 
the Sierra Leone government. He took part in the insurrec- 
tion of 1898, which destroyed many valuable lives, and he 
was convicted and hung with many others for taking part in 
that wicked rebellion. 

After I left Africa in 1887, that young man wrote the fol- 
lowing to the Religious Telescope, under heading, "Farewell 
to Bishop Flickinger" : "Four months ago we welcomed our 
indefatigable Bishop, Dr. D. K. Flickinger, to Shenge again. 
His stay among us has been a pleasant one. Three days ago, 
on the evening of the 30th of March, 1887, our dear Bishop 
bid us good-by, and hence I say farewell to the Doctor across 
the waters. He has always been a friend to me, for I was the 
second boy taken into the mission in 1873, being then four 
and a half years old. I am happy to tell you that the Bishop 
has built a nice tomb over Mr. Thomas Tucker's grave. I 
wonder if I shall see him again: but whether I see him or 
not, I hope God will go with him. So farewell, our dear, dear 
Bishop." 

Among the many good things connected with our mission 
work in the United States was the establishing of many new 
Sunday schools. From the organization of the board in May, 
1853, just twenty-eight years previously, there had been no 

149 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

less than one hundred and fifteen thousand members received 
into the Church through the labors of our missionaries, at an 
average cost of not to exceed ten dollars, and for every fifteen 
dollars of missionary money expended one soul was led to 
Christ. 



150 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

1881-82 — Visits Africa Again — A Circle of Mission Sites — Industrial 
Training — Stingy Men — Rejoicing Over Success — Experiences on 
a Rough Sea Voyage — Collision at Sea — French Infidel. 



Owing to the fact that important matters needed to be 
looked after in Africa, I was requested by the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Mission Board to visit that country again. 
Starting December 1, 1881, in a sail vessel, I returned on the 
same vessel, May 24, 1882. Rev. J. Gomer and wife, having 
completed their second term of five years of service as mis- 
sionaries in Africa, came to the United States with me. All 
were present at the annual meeting of the Board, which met 
in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, May 26th, 1882. 

The year had been a prosperous one in Africa, especially in 
the way of enlarging the work there. The chief of the Sher- 
bro country, Mr. George Caulker, had died five months before 
I got there, and his successor in office, T. N. Caulker, his 
brother, was more friendly to our mission work than George 
had been. This suggested to Mr. Gomer and myself that that 
was an opportune time to obtain new mission sites, and the 
following new places were secured, each containing one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land: Rembee, which is about 
twenty miles from Shenge, in a northwest direction; Mambo, 
fifteen miles south of Rembee; Mo-Fuss, fifteen miles east of 
Mambo; Tongkoloh, twenty miles south of Mo- Fuss; and 
Koolong, fourteen miles south of Shenge. This circle of 
new mission sites, most of them extending interior from ten 
to twenty miles from the coast, and about one hundred miles 
around, had in it over one hundred towns, nearly all of 
which could easily be reached from one of these stations. At 
each of these was a resident missionary and a day school and 

151 



^ 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

a Sunday school, Most of the missionaries were natives who 
had been educated at our own or other mission stations. 

One object in procuring so much land was to provide for 
teaching mission boys how to cultivate the land ; another was 
to settle our converts on it, in lots of from five to twenty 
acres, and thus keep them under Christian influence. The 
land cost very little. It is a very important part of mission 
work in Africa to teach, the people how to farm and to build 
houses, furnish and live in them ; how to raise, cook, and eat 
food properly ; how to make, wear, and wash clothes ; in short, 
how to provide for their bodies as well as their souls. They 
must be helped out of their small, cheerless, dirty mud huts 
in which they live; clothes must be put upon their naked 
bodies, and they must be taught to eat their food from tables, 
with knives, forks, and spoons, instead of sitting on the 
ground and taking it out of the vessel in which it is cooked 
and putting it into their mouths with their hands. To ac- 
complish all these things, profitable employment must be 
given them, hence the necessity of teaching the mission boys 
and girls how to be housekeepers, mechanics, farmers, and 
how to care for sick people, how to acquire property, as well 
as how to read, write, believe on Christ, and worship him in 
such a way as to save their souls. 

Two rich, stingy men were once solicited by me for mis- 
sionary money. One excused himself from giving because he 
had given the Lord one thousand two hundred dollars not 
long before, saying the lightning had struck his barn, which 
was full of hay and grain, and all was burned, causing a loss 
of twelve hundred dollars. The other man was quite as 
stingy, but he had some conscience ]eft. He felt he ought 
to give the fifty dollars asked of him. Going to his house 
to talk with him the day after he had been urged to give 
at a camp-meeting, he said : "Do let me alone ; I can't give 
you the fifty dollars now, and I will die if you don't let 
me alone." There was an awful struggle in his soul; he felt 
he ought to give the money, but such was his love for it that 

152 



In the Gospel Ministry 

he did not want to part with it. His wife finally said to him, 
"Do give that man the money and let him go/' and he gave it. 

This year general success attended our mission work, except 
on a few frontier fields, where there was but little success. In 
Germany, in Africa, and especially on home missions, and on 
most of the frontier missions, there was real prosperity. The 
home missions in the thirty-one self-supporting conferences 
employed two hundred and fourteen missionaries. There 
were received into the Church three thousand five hundred 
and sixty-three members, and over twenty thousand dollars 
were paid to the missionaries on these missions. The Mission- 
ary Visitor had reached a circulation of nearly forty-five 
thousand. The Church Erection Society had also made more 
progress than ever before. I recall with much thanksgiving 
to God the happiness I experienced over the results of the 
labors of our missionaries this year. To me it was a year of 
great peril and hardship. The vessel on which I went to 
Africa had poor accommodations. Eeturning on the same 
vessel, my associations and accommodations were better, but it 
had its perils and disadvantages. 

To give the reader an idea what these voyages were 
to passengers, the following is copied from a letter written by 
me at the time: "The voyage has been the roughest I ever 
made. The first two weeks we had high winds and waves, ex- 
cept two clays, in which time there were two three-day gales, 
and the last one was so severe that it seemed as though the 
heavy sea would knock our bark to pieces. Every little while 
a large wave would strike the vessel with such force as to make 
everything tremble. The sky-light in the cabin was so open, 
and also the port-holes in our staterooms, as to admit consider- 
able water at times, which came dashing down upon our table, 
beds, and cabin floor, making, it exceedingly disagreeable 
and unhealthy. A Mr. Cambell and his wife were driven 
out of their beds one night, and my mattress and bed clothes 
were wet for several days and nights. The floor next 
to the water-closet was quite wet for most of the 

153 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

voyage, because water escaped from it. The captain 
frequently lighted his pipe in the cabin, which to us 
seasick ones, at least to four of us, was very disagreeable. The 
gangway, and the only way into the cabin, had to be kept 
closed. most of the time for several days and nights, on ac- 
count of heavy seas, and this was the only means by which 
fresh air could be admitted. There was plenty of room for 
water to get into the staterooms and cabins, which we did not 
want, but none for fresh air, which we did need very much. 
The table had enough on it, but was poorly supplied with 
suitable food for seasick passengers, and some things were 
horribly cooked. Several of us suffered for want of that 
which we could eat; some lady passengers finally requested a 
little more attention to their wants, which brought to the table 
an abundance of rice, which we ate till over our seasickness. 
Occasionally there was fruit and dessert, which we relished 
much, but seldom as much as an ordinary person should have. 
It was evident our bark was managed by those in control to 
make money, without regard to the health or comfort of pas- 
sengers'." 

After such a voyage to Africa, it may seem strange that Mr. 
and Mrs. Gomer and I should venture to return on the same 
vessel. It happened this way : The owner of the vessel had an 
agent in Freetown to whom I remarked that we would return 
to the United States about the 1st of April. The agent stated 
that was the time that bark would sail for America, adding, 
"And you will go on it?" To this I gave an emphatic "No," 
with reasons. A few days afterward the captain sent an 
apology, and said things should be all right on the return 
trip. So it was, having a new captain, and all went well un- 
til we collided with a brig about three hundred miles from 
New York. The account of that was published in the Church 
paper by the writer as follows, under date of New York, May 
22, 1882 : "Just landed and all is well, but we narrowly es- 
caped a watery grave. Between one and two o'clock in the 
morning on the 18th inst., a Dutch brig struck the jib-boom 

154 



In the Gospel Ministry 

of our bark and carried it away. The rigging of the two ves- 
sels caught, and it took about half an hour to get them apart. 
The damage to our vessel was about one thousand dollars, but 
the brig suffered more. Its captain said at first they would go 
down, and asked our captain to lay by and see. At eight 
o'clock next morning it was decided she could get into port. 
We soon knew we were safe, as our vessel did not take water. 
Fortunately there was but little wind then, and the collision 
was in a manner to do the least damage. God reigns. We 
go from here to annual meeting at Lebanon, Pennsylvania." 

We had a Frenchman for a passenger who had been in 
Africa as a trader for several years, and was going to France 
by way of New York. He was an infidel. After it was known 
all was safe, he came to where several of us were standing, 
and jeeringly said, "What a pity that we did not all become 
angels this morning." Our captain gave him the following 
well-deserved rebuke, and made him feel its force keenly: 
"Good angels are made of better material than you possess, 
and they onlv are in heaven, but bad angels are with Satan in 
hell." 

Once while a passenger on the City of Berlin, going from 
ISTew York to Liverpool, we lost our rudder in a severe gale, 
and were forced back to New York City. A French woman, 
after being told all was safe, screamed all one night, and kept 
awake several of us whose berths were near hers. She was 
determined to go to the bottom of the ocean. My roommate 
laughingly said, but not loud enough for her to hear it, that 
he believed she was too silly and light to sink if she were in 
the water, and that she certainly was a big fool. 



155 



CHAPTEK XXXII. 

1882-83 — Accept the Mendi Mission — Go to Africa — Ship Disabled— 
Mendi Property — The "Early Dawn" — The John Brown Steamer 
— The "Drivers." 

How more activity and responsibility could be crowded into 
one year than were in tlfis, is difficult to conceive. In Novem- 
ber, 1882, I obtained the information that the American Mis- 
sionary Association, of New York, was about to transfer 
Mendi mission, in Africa, to the American Board, in Boston, 
in exchange for some Indian missions they had. Mendi mis- 
sion being contiguous to our mission in Africa, and we having 
cooperated, always being on terms of friendship, I was deeply 
interested in this change. I therefore wrote to the secretary 
of the American Missionary Association that I hoped Mendi 
mission would be properly cared for, and said to him that if it 
had such a superintendent as Sherbro mission had, in the 
person of Eev. J. Gomer, success would be assured without 
increasing their appropriation. Mendi mission had been man- 
aged by a freedman from the South, and the missionaries em- 
ployed there were also freedmen, who did but little good. In 
reply to that letter the secretary of the American Missionary 
Association asked if the United Brethren Church would take 
control of Mendi mission, and operate it for five years upon 
the avails of the Avery fund, which was put into their hands 
for Africa, and which amounted to about five thousand dol- 
lars annually. He also asked whether it would accept eight 
thousand dollars which had been collected in Sunday schools 
for the special purpose of building a steamer for the African 
mission, to be called John Brown, and see to it that such a 
steamer was built and operated in behalf of missions in 
Africa. As the headquarters of Mendi mission was at Bonthe, 

156 



In the Gospel Ministry 

one hundred and twenty miles south of Freetown, at which 
place missionaries debarked going there, and embarked 
for returning to the United States, and as our headquarters 
were at Shenge, midway between Freetown and Bonthe, it was 
very desirable to have just such a mission-craft as was pro- 
posed, to carry missionaries and mission supplies from Free- 
town to Shenge and Bonthe. 

An agreement was reached between the three committees 
about the first of December, turning over to the United Breth- 
ren Board of Missions all the property of the Mendi mission, 
together with eight thousand dollars with which to build a 
steamer, one of the conditions being that I would go to 
England and contract for the building of the John Brown, 
and then proceed to Africa and supervise the details of the 
transfer of Mendi mission to the United Brethren Board. To 
do this the executive committee requested me to go, and also 
to look after the needs of Sherbro mission; hold the district 
annual conference; then go to G-ermany and hold the annual 
conference with our missionaries there, and return to the 
United States in the spring of 1883, in time to be present at 
the annual meeting of the Board, which met in May. I did 
all of that, and experienced a ' shipwreck in the bargain. I 
embarked in New York, on the City of Berlin, December 9, 
and that vessel lost its rudder in a fearful gale at midnight 
of the eleventh, when about one thousand miles from New 
York. After floating about at the mercy of the waves for 
forty-eight hours, using all the signals of distress available, 
the City of Chester, a steamer westward bound, overtook us, 
and towed us back to New York, which place we reached the 
twenty-first. I sailed again on the twenty-third for Liver- 
pool, and had a good voyage. 

While in Africa I took an inventory of all that was in pos- 
session of Mendi mission. There were only two stations, 
Good Hope and Avery. At both these places there were good 
mission residences, chapels, schoolhouses, and at Avery a 
sawmill, a coffee farm of one thousand five hundred bearing 

157 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

trees, and quite a lot of lumber and logs. There were also 
five rowboats, and a lot of household furniture and other 
things, well worth two thousand dollars, not including land 
or buildings. As we were to get about five thousand dollars a 
year, and these two stations did not require all that, a new 
station was opened at Manoh, which was in the Mendi 
mission territory. At Bonthe, where Mendi mission once pub- 
lished a small paper, there was some typev and other printing 
material, and the publication of the Early Dawn was re- 
sumed; Mr. D. F. Wilberforce was made its editor. To help 
in this the Religious Telescope office afterward gave one 
hundred and fifty dollars, by order of the General Confer- 
ence. 

On my way to Africa I went to Scotland and England to 
confer with shipbuilders, to learn how much of a steamer 
could be bought for seven thousand dollars, reserving one 
thousand dollars for getting it to Africa, and for its equip- 
ment there. Not being able to contract for such a vessel as I 
thought was needed for seven thousand dollars, I wrote to 
the New York committee to make it nine thousand six hun- 
dred dollars, which it generously did. On my way home I 
contracted with Mr. E. Hayes, at Stony Stratford, England, 
for a steamer sixty feet long, twelve feet in the beam, and to 
be able to carry fifteen tons cargo, and accommodate six or 
eight passengers and fuel for two days' running. It was to 
cost one thousand seven hundred and sevent}^-seven pounds 
sterling, or about eight thousand seven hundred dollars, and 
was to be finished by October, 1883. It was not completed by 
that date, and it was November before it finally got off. En- 
countering a fearful gale, it was towed back to Dartmouth, 
where the Board of Trade detained it till May, 1884, and the 
salvage and repairs necessary to go to sea again cost im- 
mensely. We also lost the contract to carry the mail in 
Africa, which will receive explanation further on. This much 
ought to be said now, if the shipbuilders had gotten the John 
Brown finished according to contract, many thousands of dol- 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

lars would have been saved, and I should have escaped much 
unjust criticism. 

Another important event of this year was the securing of 
the cooperation of the Freedmen's Missions Aid Society, of 
Xo. 18 Adams Street, London. Dr. White, of New Haven, 
Connecticut, who had spent some time in England soliciting 
funds, gave me a letter of introduction to the Eev. J. Gwynne 
Jones, the secretary of the Freedmen's Missions Aid Society, 
as did also Dr. Strieby, secretary of the American Missionary 
Association, of New York. With these I visited Mr. Jones, 
and give him a copy of the missionary report of our Board for 
1882, and other documents, and made such statements of our 
African mission as I deemed proper. I also wrote Mr. Jones 
from Africa, and on my return to London gave him a written 
report showing what we had in. Africa, including Mendi mis- 
sion. The result was that the Freedmen's Missions Aid 
Society agreed to cooperate with us, and gave us that year 
nearly five thousand dollars, and have contributed consider- 
able sums since to Africa. 

My visit to Germany was also much needed. Besides hav- 
ing our liberties abridged there by the civil authorities, dis- 
cordant elements had developed among our missionaries to 
such an extent as to forebode evil. These were largely re- 
moved, four new members were admitted into the annual dis- 
trict meeting, and thirteen new members were received into 
the Church. Steps were taken to publish a small monthly 
there in behalf of our missionary work. One hundred and 
fifty dollars were set apart by the General Conference for this, 
at my request. 

Great prosperity attended our home missions, they receiv- 
ing into the Church during the year four thousand five hun- 
dred and forty-three members, while in our frontier missions 
two thousand seven hundred and thirty-four were received. 

It may seem strange, but it is true, that during my absence 
from the United States for six months at a time, I still edited 
the Missionary Visitor. I selected matter for months ahead 

159 



Fifty-jive Years of Active Life 

when going abroad, and then wrote editorials on the cars, 
aboard of ship, and whenever there was a leisure hour to do so. 
I also wrote for other Church papers, English and German, 
and for the Sunday-school periodicals. 

While in Africa on this trip,- I traveled over one thousand 
miles in rowboats, not counting the rapid movements I made 
when the drivers got after me. These drivers are a species 
of black ant, which march with all the regularity of an army. 
They enter houses, and go into every nook and corner of them, 
marching in a column from one to one and a half inches wide, 
the outside ones being picked fighters and biters. Twice at 
Shenge they entered my bedroom, and got onto the bed at 
ten o'clock at night, and bit me so furiously that I left in 
my sleeping-gown, until they finished their tour of that room. 
They go from cellar to garret, killing cockroaches, mice, and 
rats, and have been known to kill goats when in pens, where 
they could not get out of their way. They sink their bills 
into one's flesh and never let go. When pulled off with the 
hand, their heads remain. 

Three things gave me much trouble: 1. To make a good 
deed for Freetown property. This required three weeks' walk- 
ing, talking, and praying. 2. Building a sea-wall at Shenge, 
which was a failure in part, and ought never to have been at- 
tempted. 3. Building the John Brown, which I did after 
much counsel and prayer, and which was both a success and a 
failure. 

In an article I wrote at Shenge, March 7, 1882, the follow- 
ing is found: "Just twenty-one years ago last fall I came 
here from America at my own expense, bringing with me a 
few goods with which I managed to pay the debts of the 
mission, amounting to about one hundred and thirty dollars, 
and left an equal amount with Mr. Williams, the native 
laborer, for him to get through the next year. There was here 
a small chapel, which soon fell down, because so badly eaten 
by bug-a-bugs; in it Mr. Williams and family lived, and 
taught a day and Sunday school, having from twelve to fif- 

160 



In the Gospel Ministry 

teen children in attendance, and held services on Sabbath with 
very small congregations ; and that was all there was . of 
Sherbro mission then. Xow we have five stations, the weakest 
of which far surpasses all we had then, preach in fort}" odd 
towns regularly, and arrangements have been made to open 
one new station immediately, and another next year/'* 



161 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

1883-84 — Increasing Responsibility — Misfortunes of the John Brown 
— Spiritual Results and New Missionaries — A Prophecy — 
Flogged the Oarsman— In a Storm. 

The African mission had given me all the work and re- 
sponsibility and peril I could endure, as I thought, but these 
kept increasing more and more. Receiving large sums of 
money from the American Missionary Association pleased the 
executive committee much, but because the Freedmen's Mis- 
sions Aid did not furnish five thousand dollars the second 
year, as its secretary said he thought it would, I was severely 
criticized. Some men measured success achieved in mission 
work by its inexpensiveness. To save money by employing 
inferior native helpers, no difference how much the work 
might be neglected thereby, or the spiritual, welfare of the 
people left uncared for, in their estimation was success. Then 
they never made allowances for reverses, which inevitably oc- 
curred in Africa, owing to sickness and other conditions 
there. 

To be sure to have the steamer John Brown built accord- 
ing to contract, and finished and started to Africa in time, and 
to assist Rev. J. G-. Jones in his work as secretary of the 
Freedmen's Missions Aid Society, the treasurer of our Miss- 
ionary Society was sent to England in September, 1883. The 
steamer was not ready for nearly a month after the time it 
was to be done, and then some changes had to be made which 
delayed its sailing for some days. At .last the John Brown, 
commanded by William Brown, left London for Sierra Leone. 
The second day out a severe gale was encountered, which so 
disabled the machinery of the vessel that it had to be towed to 
Dartmouth by a pilot boat. Being so small, and the season 

162 



, In the Gospel Ministry 

of the year causing rough seas, the Board of Trade refused to 
allow it to venture to sea again until May, 1884. The cost of 
towing it into port, repairing machinery, and keeping it at 
anchor from Xovember till May, and getting it to Africa 
finally, was enormous. This large extra sum of money would 
have been saved had the steamer started two weeks earlier. 
When in Africa, the year before, Mr. G-omer and I had practi- 
cally made a contract with the Colonial authorities in Free- 
town to carry the mails from that city to Bonthe, just the 
route the John Brown was to go weekly, and for which they 
were to pay two hundred and forty dollars a month. With 
this contract, which would have been effected had the John 
Brown got to Africa in November instead of May, it would 
have been a source of considerable profit to the Society, in- 
stead of great loss. As it was, the boat did excellent service 
for a couple of years, and had the reputation of making the 
trips of one hundred and twenty miles, from Bonthe to Free- 
town, more regularly than any craft ever did before. 

At the same time the Society was incurring great financial 
loss, remarkable gains were being made in the number of con- 
verts and in the increase of spiritual life at both Sherbro and 
Mendi missions. Sending the John Brown to Africa led to 
the appointment of Eevs. J. M. Lesher and W. S. Sage and 
their wives to our mission, in October, 1883, and to the open- 
ing of several new mission stations, some of which became im- 
portant, and was the beginning of a general ingathering of 
souls into our mission churches there. The year 1884 added 
one thousand and twelve members, while in. all the twenty- 
eight years previous there were but five hundred and fourteen 
received. In 1885 there were one thousand one hundred and 
three, and in 1886, one thousand three hundred and eleven 
more were received. That looked as though God's time to 
favor Zion had come, notwithstanding the great financial loss. 
The following, copied from my report to the Board, shows 
how some things can be forecast pretty correctly. Bear in 
mind that this quotation was in the report made in May, 1884, 

163 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

when the great success of that year was unknown to me. "The 
reverses of last year caused me to carefully examine all the 
circumstances to see whether it was not a blunder for us to 
undertake so great a work as we now have in Africa. The 
more carefully this question is examined, the more fully will 
it appear that in this we were providentially led, and that 
God's blessing has manifestly rested upon our efforts to rein- 
force that field with efficient laborers, who, in connection with 
others previously there, are having very encouraging success. 
Everything connected with the late great enlargement of our 
work in that country indicates that the same Providence which 
led us so unexpectedly into the responsible position we occupy 
as a board of missions, will guide us to a glorious victory and 
an honorable ending, if we are faithful. As I stated to the 
General Conference fifteen years ago in reference to mission 
work in Africa, so I say now, I cannot but believe that a 
glorious harvest of souls will yet be gathered among that peo- 
ple by the church which does faithful work in that dark land. 
The magnitude of the work which our Heavenly Father has 
so evidently placed in our hands may well cause us to falter, 
considering the great liability there is in our being misunder- 
stood and even censured, in case reverses should come, unless 
we are able to walk by faith and not by sight." 

The first time I was in Africa I ascended the Big Boom 
Eiver one hundred miles, and once had to cross it where it was 
a mile wide. When near the middle, and in a strong current, 
my main oarsman refused to pull, which caused the frail 
native canoe to get broadside in that current, making it liable 
to capsize. I thereupon struck the man with the tiller stick, 
causing him and all hands to pull well, and thus soon I was 
carried to a place of safety. The crew had been quarreling 
with the captain all the three days it took to make that/trip, 
which was ended Saturday. On Sunday I preached, and the 
only one of my crew, five in number, who attended the service, 
was the man I flogged two days before. My experience on the 



164 



In the Gospel Ministry 

Big Boom Eiver was a good illustration of the impropriety of 
trading horses in the middle of the river. 

Once in going from Freetown, in Africa, by way of Liver- 
pool, we were caught in a terrible gale off the Bay of Biscay. 
The high wind and seas from the northwest impeded the 
progress of the vessel, which had very defective machinery and 
was short of coal. She finally reached Liverpool two days 
late, with less than a ton of coal aboard. On Easter Sunday 
afternoon three young men who had been quite wicked met in 
a stateroom, and sang most beautifully the hymn, "Booked in 
the Cradle of the Deep." These men in that way were trying 
to make right some wrongs they had done during the voyage, 
for they realized, as we all did, our great danger. The chief 
engineer did not have his clothes off either Saturday or Sun- 
day nights, he and a number of men being waist deep in the 
water which they were bailing out. 

At the annual meeting of 1884, I plead hard to have the 
Board of Missions apportion ten cents per member in the 
United Brethren Church, besides what it received from the 
American Missionary Association and the Freedmen's Mis- 
sions Aid Society, for Africa; also to apportion two cents 
to the member for our Germany mission, these being the only 
foreign missions then dependent upon the Church. 



165 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

1884-85 — Grumblers — On the Pacific Coast — Treasurer Billheimer 
Reports — Comparison of Cost Per Member — Assets, Material and 
Spiritual — New Kind of Foreordination. 

This year was in many respects a remarkable one; much 
travel, much peril by land and sea, much suffering, physical 
and mental ; much criticism, much anxiety, and much success 
on the Pacific Coast, in England, Germany, and Africa. I 
endured much, and learned that some men, both in the min- 
istry and laity, were quite willing to grind men like farmers 
ground corn off the cob, and after they got all that they could 
of money, toil, privation, they would do with him as the 
farmer did with the cob, throw it away as a useless thing. 
I closed one of my letters sent from Africa with the following 
words: "More and more I feel like meeting all who severely 
criticise us and the African mission at the judgment-seat of 
Christ. If there were a way of going and coming back, I 
would agree to accompany one hundred of the worst grumblers 
and settle the matter at once." 

About the first of June 1884, I went to the Pacific Coast. 
I did not desire to go, but went because the Board so ordered. 
There were difficulties in Oregon to be adjusted. I met 
Bishop Castle in Washington and went with him to quarterly 
and dedication meetings. Then we went to Walla Walla mis- 
sion conference, which met in Huntsville. There the question 
arose as to what to do with our church property in the city 
of Walla Walla. The church and parsonage were worth 
$3,500, but the society had gone down ; some thought the 
property had better be sold, others that it should be leased, 
Walla Walla being a growing city. I learned that there were 
a number of Chinese there, with nothing being done in behalf 

166 



In the Gospel Ministry 

of their Christianization, and advised that a school be com- 
menced for their benefit. To this the conference agreed, and 
a subscription of $500 was raised to start a school, and a 
committee appointed to superintend it. It was commenced 
the following November and did well. Next I visited the 
Chinese school in Portland and spent a day and night seeing 
its operations. Then I went to Oregon Conference, which 
met in Philomath, the site of our college. A difference of 
opinion among the members on the subject of holiness, secret 
societies, and the action of the Board made it difficult for the 
bishop to administer the laws of the Church, and this was re- 
tarding the cause. One principal object of my visit was to 
bring about more harmony between these brethren, which was 
largely accomplished. From Oregon I went to California, 
and spent several weeks with the missionaries; then I came 
on to Colorado, and spent several days helping missionaries 
there. Mainly through Bishop Castle I received in collections 
for the African mission the entire cost of the trip. The fol- 
lowing October I went to England and spent two months 
helping the Freedmau's Missionary Association to collect 
money. Then in December I sailed for Africa, my eighth 
trip to that mission, and landed there the first week in Jan- 
uary, 1885. I returned in the spring, barely in time to reach 
the General Conference, which met May 13. 

In my absence Eev. J. K. Billheimer, the treasurer of the 
United Brethren Missionary Society, largely did my office 
work. He prepared the report to the Board and said: "We 
are much encouraged with our work in Germany, and in the 
Sherbro and Mendi missions ; but few if any of our home mis- 
sions are able to report so large an increase as this mission. 
While some may count thirty and fiftyfold, that mission had 
over two hundred per cent, increase. According to the direc- 
tions of the Board at its last meeting, the Secretary went to 
England, where he did much to further our interests by pub- 
lic meetings and private solicitation. The presence of our 
Secretary was never more needed in Africa than during the 

1G7 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

last year. Our superintendent there was being borne on a 
tidal wave of a great work with such force and rapidity as 
to give him no time to look back. The mighty ship was under 
full sail. It is easy to make sail with a gentle breeze, not so 
easy to take it in in time of storm. The Secretary helped to 
ease the ship down to a speed more in conformity to our idea. 
Our motto is, Go slow, keep in the edge of the trade-winds. 

"If some heathen craft, with distress signals, hails you for 
a cup of water or to be taken on board, answer back, 'Our 
supply of water is limited, and we are forbidden to take any 
more on board.' Sail on, good ship, and let them perish. 
Colloquy on the heathen craft: 'We perish for water, why is 
their supply limited? They have plenty of vessels, and can 
get more missionaries; why are they not filled? Who sent 
the ship here? The Christian people of America. But why 
not fill their vessels? Because some did not want to spare 
the water, and others think the barrels leak and the water is 
wasted; but if we could only have the leakage we would 
not die/ 

"The general order is 'Retrench, go no further, reduce your 
working force.' The management of our foreign work has 
been criticized because of our heavy expenditure. Let us 
compare figures. The following figures given in the Foreign 
Missionary do not include our Board, but we will include 
it. In the Congregational foreign missions there were added 
during the year 2,371 converts at a cost of $248.14 per mem-' 
ber. The Christian church received into her communion from 
heathen converts 365 at a cost of $72.55 per member. The 
Episcopalian missions received 228 at a cost of $592.03 per 
member. The Methodist foreign missions 2,981, at a cost of 
$234.91 per member. The Baptist church received in its for- 
eign mission, 11,891 at a cost of $37.05 per member. The 
secretary of the Presbyterian Board justly finds fault with 
the methods by which the Baptists arrive at these figures. 
The statistics given by the other boards represent the number 
gathered in from the heathen, but the Baptists include all in 

168 



In the Gospel Ministry 

foreign lands. About 7,000 converts were made in Sweden 
and German}-, while 4,679 converts were made from among 
the heathen at a cost of $67 per member, which is still the 
best by over $5 per member. We report for our mission in 
Africa 1,113 at a cost of $23.68 per member. This is one 
of the most encouraging facts that was ever recorded on the 
pages of United Brethren history." 

In my report to the General Conference I said that we had 
paid some of the debt, but things took a sudden turn against 
the society, and added: "It looks very much as though the 
Lord had managed some of the things charged against our 
superintendent in Africa, the executive committee, and offi- 
cers of the missionary society. At all events, he has greatly 
blessed these efforts in rapidly building up his cause and sav- 
ing precious souls in Africa. While there last winter I ex- 
amined into the financial and moral worth of the mission 
more carefully than ever before, and with results far more 
favorable than I believed possible. In our distress for money 
we seriously considered the question of selling out, in part 
or whole. This led to the discovery that we were worth from 
$25,000 to $30,000, and that the cash could be realized upon 
one-half of this at any time, and we believe on it all in the 
near future. The available assets consist in produce and 
goods in the mission store, nearly a dozen rowboats and ca- 
noes, mission wharf and warehouse, with the privilege to do 
business upon mission premises. The balance of our assets 
consist in lands, houses, shops, and farms, which are valuable 
especially for mission purposes. The most valuable assets of 
the mission are the religious and moral influences in operation 
producing results highly gratifying. I tried to invoice the 
gospel seed sown in 294 towns into which our missionaries go. 

There are 500 children in our Sunday schools, upon most 
of whose young hearts the law of God has been so engraved 
as to lead them to Christ. I also took account of 1,526 mem- 
bers we have there, the large majority of whom were a few 
years ago as degraded heathen as ever lived. Most of them 

169 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

are now striving to follow Christ. I made note of the sixty 
raw heathen who walked several miles near midnight and 
waked up our missionary to have him tell of Christ. He had 
preached that evening to about thirty persons, being the first 
time he was there. Two men from a neighboring town went 
home after that meeting and told what they had heard, which 
so interested the people that sixty of them came to the mis- 
sionary and waked him up, saying they feared he would be 
gone before they could get there in the morning, and desiring 
that he tell them the "God word." This he did at that mid- 
night hour. I also took stock of the scores of souls saved in 
heaven and on earth from the terrible degradation of heathen- 
ism, not represented on ordinary balance sheets. I am quite 
certain that the assets of our mission in Africa far exceed its 
liabilities.' 7 

While in Africa this time I held the sixth annual session 
of Sherbro mission district, the first week of March, 1885. 
The secretary of that meeting in writing an account of it 
said it was the most enjoyable of all our district meetings. 
The very first gathering was characterized by the presence 
of the Holy Spirit, which continued throughout the session. 
It was a prosperous year in the history of the African mission, 
294 towns being visited by our missionaries, with a member- 
ship of 1,526. I asked Mr. Gomer to tell how many had died 
at Shenge during the fourteen years he was there whom he 
regarded as Christians. After thinking the matter over for 
some time, he said he could safely say twenty-six, but added, 
"You may count them by scores if you include those who died 
at all our stations who had been striving to do the will of 
God." A careful appraisement of our property in Africa, 
including lands, houses, boats, amounted to over $28,000. 
Add to these facts the truth that thirty years before people 
lived in mud huts without floor, doors, or windows; many 
of them wore no clothing, slept on the ground, and would 
eat bugs, ants, rats, snakes, monkeys, and one another; they 
were cannibals, polygamists, slaveholders, devil worshipers, 

170 



In the Gospel Ministry 

burning to death witches, and in many other ways inflicting 
on each other untold cruelties. 

When in Africa in 1883, a new kind of foreordination was 
discovered. We kept quite a number of mission children 
whom we fed and clothed, their food consisting principally 
of rice and fish. At times fish were not easily caught, at other 
times our fisherman would smuggle most of the fish away and 
sell them, supposing we would not find it out and continue his 
full wages. When the children were without fish for a time 
we furnished some beef to the man who drew their daily 
supplies of rice. On Saturday morning there was enough 
supplied for two days, and thereafter it got to be a com- 
mon thing fhat there was no fish for Saturday, so that a 
double portion of beef had to be furnished. The steward and 
fisherman had fore ordainedjfc that there should be no fish on 
Saturday, which would givl them beef for two days, which 
they all relished very much. As a matter of course we put 
an end to that kind of foreordination, it being too expensive. 

The sexton of the mission chapel, besides seeing that the 
house was kept properly, had to keep the people in order. 
Occasionally raw heathen and children had to be told to be 
still and shown how to behave. One Sunday, just after I had 
commenced service, a boy about three years old came into 
church with all of his clothes, which consisted of a Madras 
handkerchief, wound around his head. The sexton marched 
him out and put the dress on him from waist downward, and 
then brought him back and put him in a seat. He also saw 
to it that the people kept awake during service, and for this 
he not unfrequently had a switch about three feet long with 
which to touch them, or if need be to strike them. This same 
man was one of our class-leaders, and led class-meetings well ; 
but at public worship he quietly passed around, not to inquire 
of them respecting their religious experience, but to see that 
they kept their clothes on, staid awake, and behaved properly. 

That country was infested with jiggers to an alarming ex- 
tent at that time. That small insect, about half the size of 

171 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

an ordinary flea, would bury itself unperceived into the flesh, 
mostly in the ends of the fingers and toes, and if not removeol 
promptly it would deposit its eggs, and soon there would be 
a brood of jiggers boring into the flesh, producing painful 
sores which would terminate fatally if not remedied. They 
made terrible looking fingers and toes in a short time. Our 
bookkeeper at Shenge, a son of ex-president Benson of Liberia, 
was scarcely able to get about on account of jiggers in his 
feet. The wife of the governor of Sierra Leone had very sore 
feet from the same cause, and once I had to get a surgeon 
on shipboard to dig jiggers out of one foot, the second day 
after sailing from Freetown to Liverpool. Wearing shoes and 
stockings was no protection from the pest. 



J72 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

1885-86 — Elected Missionary Bishop — Valedictory as Editor of Mis- 
sionary Visitor — To Africa — Secretary Warner's Report — The 
Situation in Germany. 

The General Conference of Ma}-, 1885, believed that the 
work in Africa, Germany, and England ought to have the 
whole time of one man, and hence elected me bishop of the 
foreign district. Dr. Z. Warner was elected corresponding 
secretary in my place, and Rev. Wm. McKee was chosen treas- 
urer instead of Rev. J. K. Billheimer. The Board of Mis- 
sions was charged with the work of bringing the society's ex- 
penditures within the limits of its receipts, and to provide for 
the payment of its debts. The following is the report that 
was made at the end of the first year of the new Board : "riot- 
withstanding all the care we have exercised upon the matter 
of appropriations, the expenses of our society have exceeded 
the amount of money received into our treasury, thereby 
causing a considerable increase of our indebtedness. The 
necessity is now upon us to adopt a system of retrenchment 
which no doubt will be seriously felt by our faithful mission- 
aries, but we hope they will acquiesce in the necessity. We 
recommend that an effort be made all over the Church to 
secure within the ensuing two years the sum of $50,000." 
This is the report adopted at the annual meetings of 1885 
and of 1886, and shows that the new officers found it as 
difficult to retrench as did the old, and made no more progress 
in paying debts, though it was especially charged to do so. 

The following valedictory was written for the Missionary 
Visitor: "I cheerfully vacate the place given me by the Gen- 
eral Conference twenty-eight years ago to Dr. Warner, my 
successor. I bespeak for him the same hearty cooperation of 

173 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

the friends of missions and Sunday schools which has been 
accorded me. I am thankful to the thousands of readers of 
this paper for the liberal patronage given and the forbearance 
they have exercised during the twenty years I have been its 
editor. It never had but the one editor till now, and it's time 
to have a change. Doctor Warner will no doubt greatly im- 
prove it, and in this I will rejoice. I enter upon the duties of 
my office not to attempt any new work, but to accomplish 
more of the same kind in which I have been engaged in the 
foreign missionary field for many years past. I ask the 
readers of the Visitor to remember me at the throne of grace, 
and not to cease to pray and pay for the cause of missions 
both at home and abroad, especially to remember Africa and 
Germany missions." 

On the twelfth of September, I started to Africa on a sail 
vessel, but did not get there until November 6, owing to 
unusual calms. I reached Freetown the day two of the mis- 
sionaries, a husband and wife, sailed for the United States. 
Two others, husband and wife, had left in July, lessening 
the force so much. that only two men and their wives were 
on the field. I was charged with the duty of putting the work 
upon a basis that it would cost only $8,000 besides what the 
African Missionary Association gave, which was about $5,000 
a year. I, in consultation with the two men on the field, 
arranged to carry on the work with $10,000 all told, from 
January, 1886 to 1888. This was not to include the salary 
and traveling expenses of Mr. Wilberforce, in case he was 
sent back to Africa again, he then being in the United States 
attending a medical college and doing some lecturing on 
Africa. 

I had arranged with Doctor Jones, secretary of the Freed- 
man's Missions Aid, of London, to be with him at the 
beginning of the year 1886, and left Africa December 23, 
1885, reaching England January 10. 

The Secretary, Doctor Warner, in his report to the Board 
in 1886, said: "The spiritual results of our work in Africa 

174 



In the Gospel Ministry 

are very gratifying. One year ago there were reported 1,526 
members; this year we report 2,629. From them we can 
select the men who are to redeem the people among whom we 
are laboring. The foreigner cannot evangelize Africa. The 
native church can, and must do the work. Strong leaders 
will be needed for years, perhaps, but the rank and file of 
Christian workers must be found in the native church. The 
African missions sustained a real loss in the death of Thomas 
Tucker, our oldest convert, and pastor of Mo- Fuss. Among 
his last words, he said: "I am ready to die and go to reign 
with my Savior." 

"The Secretary's report said of me : "Bishop Flickinger has 
been in England since early in January. While in Africa 
he visited all our stations, held the annual meeting and or- 
dained one native preacher. This visit will have a good influ- 
ence on our work in the future. He gave the value of our 
property in Africa, Sherbro mission, $9,368.80; Mendi side, 
$19,250.00; total, $28,618.80." Eespecting Germany he said: 
"The annual meeting was held by Bishop Flickinger April 
21. By an arrangement with, and the approval of the Board, 
he will act as presiding elder the coming year. The true 
policy is to use native preachers with a superintendent from 
the Fnited States." During this year Eev. C. Bischoff, the 
founder of the Germany mission died. He had been a suc- 
cessful worker and presiding elder. The Secretary also, in his 
report, referred to the school in Walla Walla, which had ex- 
tended beyond the Chinese; and as I was its originator, ref- 
erence is made to it here: "The Chinese population and a 
local church of about thirty members and a flourishing Sun- 
day school have been organized. The school did well among 
the Chinese, and the Board was much encouraged. The 
Walla Walla conference had a healthy growth, with a good 
prospect for the future." 

The following by me, published in the Religious Telescope, 
April 23, 1886, relating to the foreign missionary work, is. 
significant and explanatory : "I fully believe and have for the 

175 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

last thirty-seven years (my first license to preach is dated 
April, 1849), that the United Brethren Church is a creature 
of God's providence and that he who said, f Go ye into all the 
world and preach the gospel to every creature/ especially led 
us to commence and prosecute the mission work we are now 
doing in Africa and Germany. Knowing these missions from 
their beginning, and the deep waters through which they have 
passed, waters that so often threatened to overwhelm . them 
and utterly crush out every vestige of United Brethrenism 
from these countries, with the remarkable victories which 
followed, especially the great prosperity of the last few years, 
we should feel greatly encouraged ; for when all is considered, 
no missions in Africa or Germany have been more successful 
than ours. I know what Bishop Taylor is doing in Africa, and 
rejoice in his success, but reaffirm the statement that no mis- 
sions in Africa or Germany have been more successful than 
ours. To confine myself to Germany where I now am — it is 
true that others have more to show here than we have, and they 
have spent many more thousands than we have hundreds of 
dollars to accomplish these results, and are pushing their 
work still with a zeal which to them is highly commendable, 
and ought to make us a little ashamed. Our ministerial force 
has been much weakened by sickness, death, and apostacy. 
Two years ago we sent Brother Sick here; he has done an 
excellent work for Germany, but, alas, he is so afflicted that 
he cannot stay to finish his term of three years, and will soon 
leave. In these same two years Brothers Bischoff and Sta- 
wHzer died, and one of our most talented ministers badly 
fell from grace and is no more one of us. ; 

"We still have ten men whom we employ, but several of 
the young men ought to go to school a few years, and several 
of the older ones are about worn out. After all, our greatest 
draw back is a lack of money to pay for building and for 
renting houses for our missionaries to live and preach in. 
Very few private houses in Germany are suitable to hold 
meetings in, even if they could be had, which is seldom the 

17G 



In the Gospel Ministry 

case. The laity here are as good as in any country, but mostly 
very poor. A few of our people are well to do, able to pay, 
and we expect them to do so. 

"There is a Bible on 'the table where I am writing with a 
likeness of Martin Luther, which represents him standing, and 
any one familiar with his life and work can easily see in the 
attitude that either he had just been, or soon would be in a 
severe struggle with the pope, some monks, or the devil. The 
thought came to me that if some of our rich brethren in 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland should happen to meet 
Luther or Otterbein when they get to heaven, and they should 
introduce the subject of missions in the Fatherland and ask 
them how much money the Church expended there, they would 
feel a little ashamed. We need here $10,000 just as soon as 
it can be gotten across the ocean to build chapels, and parson- 
ages for which we now pay rent, which sum our poorly paid 
missionaries ought to have added to their salaries. I spent all 
my leisure time getting money for these things." 

An illustration of the truth of the couplet, "Large trees 
from little acorns grow; large streams from little streamlets 
now/*' the following is to the point. When I was in Africa 
the third time, in 1861, I took the man in charge to the 
water's edge at Shenge where a large tree had fallen into 
the sea, tearing a hole in the bank there. I told him he 
must watch that place, and if the flow and ebb of the tide 
washed the ground away he must hire a laborer to fill up 
the hole with stones, which were near there. That would not 
have cost over $5 then. The writer did not get back to Africa 
for ten years, when, to his astonishment, that tear-out had 
opened the way for washing out the bank a quarter of a mile 
along the coast and an eighth of a mile inland. If it con- 
tinued, the encroachment of the sea would soon reach a good 
well of water, and then the mission house, and greatly injure 
the nice point of land upon which the mission residence Avas 
built. It was to fix that bank, more than anything else, that 
I went to Africa the fourth time, and it cost at least $1,500. 

12 ' 177 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

and this after a number of acres of valuable ground had been 
washed away. 

That time I got there early in the morning and sent word 
to chief Caulker that at 4 p. m. I would reach the town, 
and shake his hands and hold meeting. I found him all 
cleaned up, a nice grass mat for me to stand on, and a stand 
and Bible ready. There were about thirty persons present, 
and he and all knelt with me, as I prayed. We had a good 
visit and all passed off pleasantly. That old chief became 
a Christian some years later, and died a happy death. 



178 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

1886-87— Rufus Clark and Wife Give $5.000— Training School Built 
of Stones from Slave Pen — Process of Building. 

I reached America from England barely in time to attend 
the annual meeting of the Board of Missions in the spring 
of 1887. Before going to my district, nearly a year before, 
I visited a few places in Pennsylvania to collect money for 
chapels in Germany, and had secured about $1,000 for that 
purpose. After spending a couple of months in the United 
States, I was ready to start back to England, to help the sec- 
retary of the Freedman's Missions Aid Association, August 1, 
when I received a letter from Rufus Clark of Denver, Colo- 
rado, requesting me not to leave till August 4, as on that day 
a suit at court was to decide whether he could then give us 
$5,000 for a training-school in Africa. I had been called to 
Denver several years before to look after missions in that 
city, and while I was there lectured on Africa. Mr. Clark 
became interested in Africa, and asked something respecting 
its wants. He was told of its many needs, especially of the 
need of a training-school in which native teachers and preach- 
ers could be prepared to work there. He seemed impressed 
with its importance, and intimated that he might respond to 
such a call sometime. His pastor, Rev. W. Rose, who did a 
good work in Denver in building Smith chapel and parsonage, 
and I took Mr. Clark's remarks to heart, and from that day 
until the ninth of August, 1886, when Mr. Clark paid the 
$5,000 to me, we had cooperated to get the money. Many 
letters had been exchanged between us, and the following 
telegram was sent me by Mr. Rose, "Come and get the money." 
So on the fourth day of August, instead of leaving home for 

179 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

England I left for Denver, and on the eighth day of August, 
I again preached and lectured on Africa there, and the next 
day I received a check for $5,060, the $60 covering the travel- 
ing expenses from Willoughby, Ohio, to Denver and return. 

On my return trip I stopped to see Doctor Rosenberg in 
Osage City, Kansas, from whom I got $600 for the Germany 
chapel fund. I also stopped in Dayton, Ohio, and got the 
executive committee to- appoint Rev. J. M. Lesher to go to 
Africa the following month to commence building the Rufus 
Clark and Wife Training- School at Shenge. Mr. Clark had 
made me responsible for the erection of that house, hence I 
wished to select my helpers. I left the money with the treas- 
urer of the missionary society to be paid as I ordered it. On 
the eighteenth of September, Mr. Lesher sailed from New 
York to Freetown in a sailing vessel, but did not get there 
till November, and did not get the work started until Decem- 
ber. Mr. Lesher was a carpenter before he became a preacher 
and missionary, and hence was the man for the place. I did 
not reach Africa until December 7, having to look after some 
things in England. 

On the last day of January, 1887, the corner-stone was laid, 
the walls having been partly put up. That corner-stone, and 
many other stones in the walls, were in a building known as 
John Newton's slave pens, on the Plaintain Island, three 
miles from Shenge. Mr. Newton, at one time a cruel slave- 
trader, and after his conversion a celebrated minister of the 
gospel, surely would have rejoiced had he been present to see 
the identical stones he once used in enslaving men, now used 
to give them liberty, civil and religious. 

The training-school building was sixty-six feet long by 
thirty-one wide, three stories high, the upper story being fur- 
nished with light by large windows in the roof and in the 
gable ends. There were two recitation-rooms, - fourteen by. 
seventeen feet, and a chapel, twenty-eight by thirty feet, on 
the ground floor. On the second story were ten rooms, each 
large enough to accommodate two students in which to lodge 

180 



In the Gospel Ministry 

and study. The third story would accommodate as many 
more, though not in separate rooms. 

There were from thirty to fifty men employed for five 
months to complete the building. The stone had to be quar- 
ried on islands from one-half to three miles from Shenge, 
then loaded into boats and brought to the mission wharf, then 
carried up a steep bank, which was at least one hundred feet 
high, put into a wagon and drawn a quarter of a mile by 
oxen, before they were dressed and laid up in the wall. It 
took a good many stones, and every gang of men had to have 
a headman. The lumber was brought to Shenge in rowboats, 
and to the site of building in the same way the stones were. 
Considering the fact that it takes at least three native laborers 
to equal one American, it will be seen that to erect such a 
building was no child's play. But for the large supply of 
mission boats, received with the transfer of Mendi mission, 
the good wagon and wharf at Shenge, for procuring which 
Mr. Gomer and myself were severely criticized, that building 
would not have been erected in one dry season. Had the 
period of building extended through the rainy season, it would 
have made it cost much more than was paid to procure the 
wagon and wharf, both of which continued to be very service- 
able afterward. Providence led to getting that wagon and 
wharf, and Mr. Gomer's good work in Africa will never be 
fully appreciated. He was a great help to Mr. Lesher and 
myself in overseeing laborers and pushing forward the build- 
ing. We had at times three captains of boats, and three other 
gangs of men as overseers. We watched these overseers, 
and the committee at home watched us. The headmen 
watched the laborers, we watched the headmen, the Mission 
Board at home watched us, the Church watched the Board of 
Missions, and God watched us all. When they built Babel 
there was confusion, and so was there at Shenge building the 
Clark training-school. 

Dr. Z. Warner, Secretary of the Board, said in his report 
made in 1887 : "The last annual meeting of the African dis- 

181 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

trict was one of the best in its history. Bishop Flickinger 
presided, and the net increase in members was 1,311, making 
the whole number 3,940. A number of our people there died 
during the year, leaving a strong, clear testimony to the power 
of divine grace. Many are reported as seekers, but this does 
not mean that they have not been converted, for many of 
them have been. The number of towns visited was 387, an 
increase of eighty-four over the previous year. There is no 
egotism in saying that we are doing a work that no other 
church has done up to this time. A gentleman of intelligence, 
not a member of our Church, visited the African coast from 
the mouth of the Congo to Freetown, and said the reputation 
of our mission is the best of any along the coast. Is this true ? 
If so we owe it to the faithful work of our missionaries.'** 

The following resolutions were passed unanimously by the 
Board in annual session in 1887, which, considering the pre- 
vious severe criticisms against the management of the African 
mission, were appreciated : 

"Whereas, Eev. J. Gomer, superintendent of Sherbro 
mission, and Rev. J. A. Evans, superintendent of Mendi mis- 
sion in Africa, have gone forward in winning souls and build- 
ing up the kingdom of the Eedeemer in the midst of many 
trials, 

"Resolved, 1. That we give thanks to God for the preserva- 
tion of their lives and health, and for the good work which 
under God they have performed. 

"2. That the thanks of this Board are due, and are hereby 
tendered to Mr. Rufus Clark and wife of Denver, Colorado, 
for their generous gift of $5,000 for the training-school in 
Africa. 

"3. That we tender Bishop Flickinger and Rev. J. M. 
Lesher the sincere thanks of the Board for their successful 
management of the erection of the Clark training-school 
building. We are also glad that Rev. D. F. Wilberforce has 
already commenced said school, with flattering prospects of 
success.** 

182 



In the Gospel Ministry 

Of Germany, the Secretary- said, "The work there is hope- 
ful. Bishop Flickinger has arranged for Eev. J. M. Lesher 
to spend some two months in Germany to aid that work. I 
think this arrangement a good one." 



183 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

1887-88 — A Row Among, the Workmen — Germany's Need — Criticise 
Industrial Work — Horrors of Slave Traffic— Heathen Burial. 

When in Africa the tenth time, I wrote February 9, 1887, 
as follows for the Religious Telescope: "I have been pub- 
lishing letters for thirty-two years respecting Africa and mis- 
sion work here, and have been solicited to write more. The 
building of the Clark training-school under the leadership 
of Mr. Lesher, the patient, the general work of Mr. Gomer, 
the merciful, and the schools under Mr. Wilberforce, the 
educator, are progressing; not as satisfactorily as is desir- 
able, but those in charge of them are doing all they can to 
succeed. The people do not appreciate schools, and some 
will not send when they have anything else for their children 
to do, or when the mission does not feed them. 

"Some of Mr. Lesher's mechanics got into a drunken row 
about a month ago, and had a quarrel and knock-down with 
our mission watchman. They took from him the gun he 
carried to enforce the command he had to give every night 
or two, 'Stop thief V to those who were stealing our cassada. 
In defending himself with a club he knocked out the eye 
of one of our stone masons. Because of this the boat, with 
Mr. Gomer, had to go to Freetown, sixty miles away, where 
the man who lost the eye went to the hospital, and our watch- 
man who knocked it out was released on bail to appear at 
police court the eleventh inst, when the boat went again. 
These trips required six rowers, and cost considerable time 
and money. On the fourth, the foreman of the masons said 
they would all quit work. He complained of Mr. Lesher, who 
told him he was too drunk to do his work properly, and that 

184 



In the Gospel Ministry 

the other masons would get drunk. The worst of all was, 
Mr. Lesher told the truth. How true, as one of our drunken 
men said, 'It's all well enough for American ministers to tell 
us not to get drunk; if they would keep alcoholic drinks from 
coming here, we might listen to them/ " 

My work in England and Germany during this year kept 
me quite busy. To give the reader an idea of how many 
things were expected of me, I here insert a few extracts from 
letters written: "The annual district meeting of Germany 
was held May 25 and 26. On the twenty-fourth and part of 
the following clay, the ministerial association met in the 
same place, Gollnow, Pommern. These meetings are gen- 
erally held in the same place and at the same time, otherwise 
our missionaries could not attend both on account of expense 
of travel. I was to have been there, but owing to Brother 
Lesher not reaching London from Africa, in time, he and I 
did not get there till the twenty-fifth, missing the ministerial 
association." 

The business of the missionary district was all attended to 
in a day and a half, and the meetings at night were good. 
The success of the year was highly encouraging. There was 
a net gain of one hundred and forty-four members, after los- 
ing ninety-eight by death, removals, and expulsion, and more 
money was raised by them than ever before. The work of 
the presiding elder of the district was in my hands, and I 
induced Mr. Lesher to hold one round of quarterlies. To get 
halls and places to preach in required considerable money, 
and hence I did all I could to collect money to build chapels, 
both in the United States and in Germany. 

This year I tried to get chapels built in Germany and 
named after Rosenburg and BischorT, writing in our Church 
papers as follows: "Friends of Germany mission, shall we 
not have your help to build these two chapels? There is 
$1,200 to come from interest on the $10,000 Mrs. BischorT 
gave the Board, and $400 more from Doctor Rosenburg's life- 
loan as interest; these sums with the cash on hand make 

185 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

$2,350.95. With this amount doubled they can be built, but 
there ought to be $3,000 for each, as they are to be in large 
towns where lots are dear." 

I also wrote early in June, 1887, that one thing seemed 
strange; namely, that the statements made by missionaries 
were often misunderstood and criticised, and their course con- 
demned by committees and boards, when they made roads, 
built houses, and taught the natives how to work. I quoted 
what a member of our own Board said, "We don't raise mis- 
sionary money to build wharfs, and shops, and to carry on 
business with." Having attended a number of May anni- 
versary meetings of different mission boards in London, Eng- 
land, including the Moravians, who are a model people for 
mission work, and having heard their reports, I was fully 
satisfied that few if any, had achieved the same success in 
their foreign mission fields of the same kind that we had in 
Africa and Germany. It must be remembered that in each 
of these we were publishing papers, and that both paid ex- 
penses of publication, and a little more ; that we had increased 
in membership so rapidly that it became a serious matter 
what to do with them. I told the brethren when in Africa 
last, to pay much attention to those whose names were upon 
our church books, and not seek so much to get new members. 
Concerning this, Brother Evans wrote : "We tried to carry out 
your instructions, but still the increase on the Mendi District 
during the quarter was over one hundred. If the increase on 
the other two districts is proportionately as large, we have 
now in Africa about 4,500." 

I said further: "It is apparent that with the training- 
school in Africa and our paper, the Early Dawn, and our 
large itinerant force we are rapidly multiplying our facil- 
ities there for work. Then in Germany, with the Heilsbote, 
the publication of our minutes in pamphlet form, the an- 
nual almanac, and ten preachers who preach at the rate of 
fifty sermons a week, our success is assured if we do our 
duty in giving them reasonable financial support." I added : 

186 



In the Gospel Ministry 

"It was a providential leading that we became acquainted 
with the Freedman's Aid Society, which has helped us to 
several thousand dollars and will continue to help in the 
future. They have paid since General Conference of 1885, 
in round numbers $9,910. There are hundreds of other good 
objects in England for which money is asked, such as ragged 
schools, hospitals, foreign missions of other boards, and many 
charitable enterprises here in London/*'" 

It will be seen from the foregoing that my cares and re- 
sponsibilities were heavy this year. Having selected the loca- 
tion of the African mission, and stoutly advocated its prose- 
cution, and having had an active part in operating the mission 
in Germany, and by my persistent efforts having kept the 
Church from abandoning both these fields, now that pros- 
perity attended them, and more than a score of white men 
had been employed, besides many native Africans, and great 
sums of money were being expended upon them, I felt to 
praise God for what was being done; but I also realized the 
need of much care and watchfulness, lest there be a retro- 
grade movement and much evil should befall those two mis- 
sion districts, which were the only foreign missions the 
Church had then. I prayed often that God. would keep me 
and others from indiscretion, and from doing the wrong 
thing. 

As illustrative of the truth that the dark places of the 
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty, the following is 
to the point: I reached Eotifunk from Shenge, late one 
evening, just after a caravan of slaves had been put into a 
pen there. Going into the enclosure I saw naked men, women, 
and children; some were tied together with ratan bark or 
vines, the babies being tied to the women's backs. They were 
poor, hungry, tired creatures. Eeturning at daylight the 
next morning they were gone. Passing over the road along 
which they went, a couple of days later, a terrible stench was 
present. In explanation, some of my men said this was the 
woods where they carry small-pox patients to die, and there 

187 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

was one dead baby there. Evidently one of the babies belong- 
ing to the slave party had been restless and annoyed the slave 
driver, and he cut its head off and put its body among the 
small-pox dead. 

While at Shenge I followed a funeral procession to a bury- 
ing ground. Beaching an open place in the woods, they went 
a few rods from the path leading to another village, and put 
clown the corpse, and then dug a grave. With cutlasses they 
loosed the ground, and with their hands they scraped it to 
one side, until a place was made large enough to put the 
corpse in. The corpse was rolled in a country cloth, bark 
being used to keep the cloth around it. The loose earth was 
then put on the body, which was barely covered. I saw while 
there the foot of another corpse, which had been buried shortly 
before, that had not been covered with earth. All was quiet 
till the burial was completed, when they set up a terrible 
howl and kept it up by fits and starts for an hour. Then they 
danced and were giddy awhile, and then they howled again. 

Once in a rowboat, passing to a town not far from Bonthe, 
I requested my men to land the boat at a big tree. They 
looked frightened and pulled to within, about one hundred 
feet of the tree, when one said, "Massa, big, big devil live at 
that tree, and if we go there he come and kill us all." Xot 
being able to get them to go near the tree, we landed a few 
hundred feet below. I then walked to the tree, struck it with 
a stick, and dared the devil to come out and hurt me. The 
roots extended out of the ground and I sat on different ones, 
but could not get one of my men near. They said, "Ah, white 
man sabbe, know more than devil, but black man don't." 
Some of the roots extended into the water, and the current 
being strong there, a ripple was caused in the water, which 
they supposed the devil made. 



1S8 



CHAPTER XXXV111. 

1SSS-89 — Appreciation of J. Goiner — Thirty-two Years of Service — ■ 
, Division in the Church — Signed the Proclamation. 

My work in the years of '88 and '89 was closely related to 
an epoch in my life which well nigh separated me from the 
foreign mission field for a time. These years of my minis- 
terial life will be largely represented by what others said of 
me and what I wrote during that period. 

The following is copied from the minutes of the annual 
meeting of the Board of Missions, which met May 7, 1889, 
two clays before the General Conference: 

"Whereas, Rev. J. Gomer and wife have returned in safety 
to America, after an absence of seven years, spent in earnest 
missionary labors, in western Africa, " 

"Resolved, 1. That we hereby express to them our hearty 
thanks for their earnest and successful labors, and our will- 
ingness to continue them in their service, for time to come. 

"2. That this Board hereby expresses its confidence in the 
work of Rev. J. A. Evans of Mendi mission, and Rev. D. F. 
AVilberforee, principal of the Clark theological training-school, 
and prays the blessing of God upon them and their work in 
the years to come. 

"3. That the thanks of this Board are due, and hereby 
are tendered Bishop Flickinger for his diligence and faith- 
fulness in superintending our foreign missions during the 
last quadrennium ; and, whereas, he and others report that 
industrial schools for the training of boys and girls in Africa, 
are an important factor in, lifting up the people from the state 
of barbarism to that of Christian civilization, therefore, Re- 
solved, That we look with favor on the plan of establishing 
such schools in Africa in the near future." 

189 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Dr. J. W. Hott, who was then editor of the Religious Tele- 
scope, and before that time had been the treasurer of the mis- 
sionary society, and hence was well acquainted with its work 
and workers for twenty years, was present at that annnal 
meeting, and wrote the following respecting Mr. Gomer and 
myself: "That veteran missionary of Africa, Eev. Joseph 
Gomer, just home from that far off land, was present. He 
comes like a battle-scarred soldier of Jesus. On the first of 
December, 1870, he and his faithful wife went to Africa. 
He at once inaugurated the system of itinerating in Africa. 
Since that time they have only visited our country twice, in 
1876; and again in 1882. For seven years he has labored 
incessantly in that terrible climate. He is now here for a 
session of rest. He will soon be fifty-five years- old. G-od 
has wonderfully spared and blessed his life. Bishop Flick- 
inger is also fresh from Germany and Africa, and though just 
home from his eleventh visit to Africa, he is fresh and vigor- 
ous as in the years gone by. He has crossed the Atlantic 
Ocean twenty-two times, but often by the long route of Eng- 
land, making an equivalent of not less than thirty crossings 
of the ocean. He has stood in the front of our mission work 
as a Church for thirty-two years, for it is now thirty- two 
years since he was first chosen secretary of the missionary 
society. Two years before his entering upon the secretary- 
ship, he had gone to Africa as one of the first company of 
missionaries our Church ever sent abroad. Eternity alone will 
unfold the wonderful results of his toil. The Church will 
warmly welcome him home again." 

The part I took to prevent the unfortunate division which 
took place at the General Conference of 1889, deserves men- 
tion here. I wrote to Bishop Castle, February, 1887, enclosing 
a letter from Dr. C. H. Iviracofe, as follows : 

"Dear Bishop Castle : Just before the .enclosed from C. 
H. Kiracofe was published in the Telescope, I had jotted 
some things in the same train of thought to publish. It con- 
taining substantially what I wrote, I did not send mine to the 

190 



In the Gospel Ministry 

Telescope. I write 3*011 to ask what objection there is to pur- 
suing the course he advises. I have not so much objection to 
the Commission paper, as I have to the how, and when, and 
where of it. Xow if the vote to be taken in 1888 is a two- 
thirds majority, then let that be the request for a change of 
Constitution, and let the General Conference of 1889 formu- 
late a paper to send down to the people. If the paper thus 
sent down be substantially what the present Commission is, 
and if it gets a two-thirds vote, all will be right. In that case 
Doctor Davis, Bishops Wright and Dickson, Bevs. Dillon and 
Miller of Auglaize, Barnaby and Titus of Michigan, Floyd 
and Kiracofe of "White Biver conferences, and a number of 
other first-class men, could not complain, and their power 
would largely be broken, so that they would not have half 
the following that they will have under the present Commis- 
sion paper. As a matter of course, some of the Commission 
leaders will cry out against any compromise, and insist that 
it must go through as now. I will join with you, Bishop 
Dickson, and Bishop Wright in advocating before the next 
General Conference some measure to give the Church a chance 
to vote for a new Constitution, and do it so that it cannot 
be said it was done in violation of our present Constitution. 
If you think there is enough in it to write Bishops D. and 
W., do so. While I can live under our present Constitution, 
I believe there is a change needed. I only wish that which is 
for the best." 

Bishop Castle did not think it wise to unite with me and 
Bishop' Wright and Bishop Dickson, who was then thought to 
be quite radical, to bring about the end sought by me. As a 
matter of fact, that was a time when good men were greatly 
perplexed, and there was a great conflict and struggle between 
their convictions of right, and what best to do to save the 
Church from division and its consequent evils. The following 
reply from Bishop Castle's last letter to me shows this: "I 
would be in favor of any reasonable adjustment. Peace to 
the Church, though it be secured at great personal cost, is 

191 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

a measure of great wisdom; but I see no way of securing it 
by any change of method that can acquire any considerable 
or sufficient advocacy to make it potential in that line; the 
danger is that of utter demoralization of methods so that 
there will be none to guide us." 

When I reached Chambersburg to attend the annual meet- 
ing of the Board of Missions, Bishop Weaver presented me 
with a paper known as a proclamation, recorded in proceed- 
ings of the General Conference of 1889, page 173. As I had 
been in the United States only for occasional- visits during 
the quadrennium and had just reached New York from my 
district in the foreign field a few days before, I told Bishop 
Weaver that I could not sign the paper until I made some 
inquiry as to whether all the steps taken were regular and 
right. This was at the noon adjournment of the Board. He 
brought the paper again that evening, but still I was not ready 
to sign it, as I had had but little opportunity to make inquiries. 
That night I inquired of several of the members of the Board 
of Missions and two of the bishops, who said that they be- 
lieved the vote represented the honest expression of our people. 
Next morning I signed the paper. 

It is said that a certain- Dutchman had eaten something 
which disagreed with him, whereupon he said that he had swal- 
lowed that thing down, and now he wished he could swallow 
it up again; so we sometimes wish we could do. A half- 
witted genius, who once went deer-hunting with experienced 
hunters, was fold to scare the deer out of a swamp. He in- 
sisted that he should be given a gun. They gave him "a mus- 
ket heavily loaded, thinking that its kicking would satisfy 
him. Four deer soon came within shooting range, when he 
blazed away; the musket knocked him down and burnt 
his eye-winkers some, but he killed two deer. They ran to 
him, expecting him to complain of the gun being so heavily 
loaded, when he said, "If you had loaded that gun right, with 
a full load, I would have killed all four of the deer at one 
shot, instead of only two of them. 77 

192 




REV. I. N. CAIN 
Massacred in Africa, May 3, 




MRS. MARY M. CAIN 
Massacred in Africa, May 3, 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

1889-90 — Reviews of Progress — Appreciation of Aid from Other Mis- 
sionary Associations — Men Who Did Things — Triumphant Native 
Christians— Tom Tucker — Christian Poisoned by Mohammedans. 

I wish next to refer to the progress of several projects which 
I had strongly advocated during the quadrennium ending 
May, 1889. Of the Missionary Visitor, which I had begun 
and edited for twenty years, the new Secretary of the Mission- 
ary Board said in his report : "It is not the easiest thing to give 
satisfaction to all in a paper designed both for Sunday schools 
and the Missionary Society, and yet the Missionary Visitor 
has held its own remarkably well with the Children's Friend." 
The Children's Friend was in the field long before the Visitor, 
and was purely a Sunday-school paper. 

That report had this to say respecting the Church Erection 
Society : "In comparison with what it did in preceding quad- 
renniums, it did fairly well during the past four years, but 
in view of the vastness of the work to be done, the urgent calls 
for help, and the ability of the Church to render aid, our work 
is so little as to humble the Board and the Church. How- 
ever, the treasurers figures show that a noble work has been 
accomplished. In sixteen years preceding 1885, the society 
had collected $20,374.98, and in the last four years it has 
collected $12,325.39 in new funds; about two-fifths of this 
was in bequests. From 1869, when the society was organized, 
till 1885, there were seventy-five houses aided. In the four 
years just gone, sixty-nine houses were helped; in all 144." 

Another thing which greatly cheered me was the wonderful 
manner in which God helped me to get money for our foreign 
missions in xAfrica and Germany. During the seven years 
preceding May. 1889, the American Missionary Association 

13 193 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

of New York City gave $39,000, including the $9,600 it fur- 
nished for building the steamer John Brown. In addition to 
this it gave us lands and buildings and other things worth 
thousands of dollars. The Freedman's Missions Aid Society 
of London, England, gave us $13,000. Both the New York 
and London associations put the United Brethren Church 
under many obligations to them. Their help in time of great 
need was providential, and ought to call forth sincere grati- 
tude to God. 

Then, in addition to these large sums which had been espe- 
cially given to Africa by agencies outside of the Church, Mr. 
Eufus Clark and wife of Denver, Colorado, gave $5,000 for 
the training-school in Africa, and Mrs. Bischoff, the wife of 
our first missionary to Germany, gave $10,000 for missions 
in that country. Thus in ways wonderful God helped us to 
get about $85,000 for the foreign mission work. ■ But for 
these large gifts the Board could not have done the work it 
did in Germany and Africa. 

Many heavy financial and other burdens have been borne 
by the men and women in the Church, which, in the present 
good times and with the great facilities now at hand for car- 
rying forward church enterprises, would not be so crushing 
now as then. If the scope of this book assumed to give a 
history of the interests to which I frequently refer, I could 
name many men and women who bore heavy burdens and 
toiled hard for the success of the Church, but since this is 
more largely a personal narrative, I need not attempt to name 
them. 

General Grant never surrendered, it is said, because he did 
not know when he was whipped. So the noble men and wo- 
men of our Church kept on fighting sin and church debts 
until they were compelled to stop, when they picked the 
flints of their guns, and went at it again, until what seemed 
like defeat was turned into victory. Thank God for such men 
and women, past, present, and to come. Our printing estab- 
lishment and Seminary at Dayton, the colleges all over this 

194 



In the Gospel Ministry 

country and in Africa, and onr missionary, church-erection, 
and Sunday-school interests are sure to find the men and 
women, who, in the future, as now and in the past, "do 
things." 

But not to make the material progress of the work of mis- 
sions the main thing, I wish to give some results of our mis- 
sion work in Africa, as these were manifested in the good 
lives and happy deaths of our converts there. 

The first churches in Africa were organized in 1876, at 
Bompetook and Shenge. At Bompetook there was a wo- 
man named Hannah, who united with the Church. Her 
heathen husband flogged her and in other ways cruelly treated 
her, yet she always came to meeting, her face radiant with 
joy, such as the Holy Ghost alone can give. That being the 
first organization the United Brethren Church had in Africa, 
there was some bitter persecution in store for those who went 
into it, especially for Hannah, whose husband did all he 
could to cause his wife to go back to heathen practices. Nine 
months of suffering from him and faithfulness to God, and 
he took her to heaven. She told her husband and others who 
opposed her that she had forgiven them, and that she was 
going to a better country than Africa. 

There was another woman, an old slave, named Quiah Mam- 
mie, who was converted at Shenge, who lived a faithful Chris- 
tian for three years. ISTo night was so dark, or weather so bad, 
as to keep her from prayer-meeting, which was held in the 
chapel a full half-mile from where she lived. She had been 
a bitter opposer of religion, and said hard things against it 
and its advocates, but finally she submitted to God. After 
that she never missed a meeting, day or night, if she could 
possibly be present. She always took part, praying and talk- 
ing in Sherbro. Three years she thus lived happy in the serv- 
ice of God. At noon one day word came that she was dying. 
Mr. Gomer and I went to see her. She was tying on the 
ground on a grass mat just outside of the mud hut she lived 
in. The mat was only half as long as her body, and she had 

195 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

a bunch of dirty rags for a pillow. A few women sat around 
her. Mr. Gomer asked her if all was well ; she nodded, Yes ; 
and then we knelt and prayed, and in a few moments Quiah 
Mammie bade adieu to earth, and with a smile and halo of 
glory and victory in her countenance, visible to all, passed 
away. 

Still another case at Shenge was Na-you-kin, a one-eyed 
woman and a very bitter enemy of religion, who often vexed 
us missionaries. She showed her contempt for missionaries 
and their teachings in a marked manner; but after some 
years of such a course she became a humble Christian, and 
bore privation and suffering with much resignation. The last 
time I saw her alive, she was reclining on the sunny side of 
a large cotton tree, to find warmth for the chill of death, hav- 
ing a coarse coffee sack wrapped about her body, but in happy 
prospect of heaven, to which her spirit went a few days after- 
ward. 

Bishop Hott, then editor of the Religious Telescope, writing 
of the deaths of these African women, said : "They went from 
rags to glory." It was indeed a great change in their case, 
from bondage to liberty, and from rags to glory. They were 
wonderful trophies of saving grace. 

Then there was Eev. Tom Tucker, who came to the mission 
an ignorant, nude, filthy youth of eighteen years of age, and 
begged to stay there. He was made a common laborer for 
one year, then headman of the mission farm, and, soon after 
that, captain of a mission boat. In about three years he be- 
came a Christian. He commenced studying, finding it hard 
work to learn to read, but he persevered until' he could read 
in the New Testament fairly well. One thing he did know 
how to do well — to offer to God the effectual, fervent prayer, 
and to win the heathen around him to Christ. In due time 
he was licensed to preach and a large circuit was given him. 
Chief Neal Caulker also made him a sub-chief in the country 
where he labored, a district containing about thirty towns, 
where he preached the gospel and administered the law, doing 

196 



In the Gospel Ministry 

both in a satisf actor} 7 manner. The last time I saw him was 
at the annual district meeting held in the spring of 1885, 
when he was so filled with the light and love of God that it 
beamed from his countenance in a manner easily observed. 
That Sabbath was a most blessed day to him, and all present, 
when a number of white missionaries and their wives were 
present. Best of all, God was there to bless. Tom died sud- 
denly the following September, triumphantly assuring those 
who were with him that all was well. 

There was a Mohammedan who was poisoned because he 
became a Christian. Great emoluments had been promised 
him if he would return to Mohammedanism and terrible 
threats made if he would not, and these threats were fulfilled. 
He was faithful till death removed him from time to eter- 
nity. He was married to one of the mission girls some- 
time after he became a Christian, and she stood by him 
heroically through all his sufferings. They truly suffered 
for Christ, and no doubt now reign with him in heaven. 

Then there was Johnny Williams, who from nine or ten 
years of age till his death, at fourteen, lived an exemplary 
life and did excellent missionary work. He was a good inter- 
preter, led the singing well, and closed meetings with prayer 
when requested. He cheerfully waded swamps and endured 
hardships to help hold meeting. May be in this way his death 
was hastened, he dying from African scrofula, or "knot dis- 
ease," as the Africans called it. After he could no longer go 
abroad he and his mother stopped half a mile from the mis- 
sion house near Shenge. The school children, at his request, 
visited him every few days to sing and pray with him after 
school closed in the evening. One day he sent word that they 
should be sure to come that evening. When they arrived he 
told them that he would die that night, and asked them to 
sing the hymns commencing, "Thou, My Everlasting Por- 
tion," "Nearer, My God, to Thee," and, "I Am Sweeping 
Through the Gates." They sang the first hymn and com- 



197 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

menced the second, but before they finished it Johnny's soul 
swept through the gates, and he was at rest. 

Another name to be considered is. David Louding, of whom 
I need say but little, as he was spoken of in the thirtieth chap- 
ter of this book. Suffice it to say he was one of the first mis- 
sion boys we received, and he excelled in every study he under- 
took. He became a Christian when about thirteen or fourteen, 
lived an excellent life, and died a peaceful, happy death. He 
was anxious to live to work in Africa. 



198 



CHAPTEE XL. 

1S90-91 — Laid Around Loose — Rev. C. Bischoff, Rev. J. K. Billheimer, 
and other workers in Africa. 

As I laid around loose more than nsual this year, having 
no regular employment most of the time, for the first time 
in forty years I had time to do some much-needed work on 
my home in Willoughby, and to visit relatives and friends, 
something I had not done for about a score of years. In this 
way, and by preaching and lecturing on Africa, I spent this 
year, except about four months, in which time I solicited 
money for Union Biblical Seminary for a few weeks, and 
served a charge left vacant in the Miami Conference. I re- 
ceived calls from two colleges of the Church to become a 
soliciting agent for them. The manager of Union Biblical 
Seminary had me see certain persons whom he regarded as 
likely to give large donations to that institution, but I learned 
that they never had any such intention. 

It will be remembered that I was told the first year I trav- 
eled, in 1850, that if any man could preach on the circuit I was 
sent to for one year, his hide would last him forty years. As 
I was in fair health, and had no good reason for retiring from 
the work of the ministry and the Church, whose educational, 
missionary, and publishing interests I had been active in pro- 
moting. I felt like the boy who was running with all his might 
to reach a Sunday school in time, because he was "part of the 
concern." Feeling I was part of the United Brethren Church 
made me note all its movements in Africa and America. 

As there is nothing in this year's work that needs to be 
considered further, I will mention some of the prominent 
workers in Africa and Germany, most of whom I had had an 

199 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

active part in procuring for these missions during the twenty- 
eight years I had served as secretary of the Board of Missions, 
and the four years I was missionary bishop of those countries. 

Eev. C. Bischoff, the founder of Germany mission, whose 
widow gave $10,000 to that mission, had no children, and that 
bequest was made by Mr. Bischoff upon my suggestion. I 
suggested that he divide his estate into three parts, giving his 
side of the house one-third, one-third to his wife's people, 
and one-third to the Missionary Society. He had written his 
will to so dispose of his estate, but had not signed it, when, 
he was suddenly killed while riding in a buggy, which was over- 
turned by his horse shying and going down a steep place on a 
hillside. Mr. Bischoff was an excellent organizer and ready 
speaker, and managed that mission well from the time he 
commenced the work until within a year or two of his death, 
when he retired from active work in the ministry. As helpers 
in making that mission the success it was up to 1889, there 
were the two Barkemeyers, Oehlschlegel, and Holeshuer, who 
did much hard work, while others did well, also. 

In Africa there were a number of noble workers deserving 
high honor ; Eev. J. K. Billheimer and wife, Dr. Witt, Eev. 
0. Hadley and wife, and Mr. Williams, the faithful native 
missionary who alone held the fort for several years, and at a 
smaller salary than he had been getting as a clerk in a store 
in Freetown ; Eev. J. Gomer and wife, who did more than any 
others to make Sherbro mission a success, and did it for many 
years, in the face of great discouragements; Eev. C. A. Evans 
and wife, Mrs. Mair, Eev. E. N. West and wife, Eev. D. F. 
Wilberforce and wife, Eev. J. M. Lesher and wife, Eev. W. S. 
Sage and wife, and others. 

Eev. J. K. Billheimer did valuable service, especially in 
building houses, furnishing the heathen good rules to live 
by, and living a good life among them. Mr. Hadley and wife 
gave the heathen a good insight into true piety, illustrating 
the excellences of the Christian religion. Mr. Gomer and wife 
stayed with them longer than any others, and thus not only 

200 



In the Gospel Ministry 

made their work permanent, but continually progressive. He 
was an excellent manager of the native headmen, and people 
generally. His method was to go to the common people in 
their rice fields and mud huts, showing them sympathy and 
giving religious instruction. Mrs. Gomer made an excellent 
home . for missionaries, and ,did her part in going to meeting 
and doing her duty when there. She also taught many useful 
lessons to girls and boys. Mr. Evans was a systematic 
preacher and bookkeeper, and his wife an excellent teacher of 
naked children. Mrs. Mair, with her good heart, ready wit, 
and good sense, could manage the natives well. She exerted a 
great influence over the natives, and could rebuke them for 
wrongs and retain their good will. Being in charge at Roti- 
funk, she greatly reformed Sourie Kessabe, the headman 
there, getting him to put away all his wives but two, keeping 
his first wife because she was the first, and another who could 
talk English. When she told him it was bad to drink whisky, 
he said it was good, for it was white men who made it and 
sent it to Africa, and hence it must be good. Then much 
credit is due E. N. West and D. F. Wilberforce for preparing 
a course of study and shaping an educational system. They 
did much to impress the natives that they needed education, 
and that they could get it if they would apply themselves. 
They had great influence over the people, both in and out of 
the pulpit, but more especially in the schoolroom, and did 
much good as missionaries. It is but right to mention also 
Messrs. Lesher and Sage, and their wives, all of whom faith- 
fully labored for the good of Africa. Especially should Mr. 
Lesher be remembered for his efficient work in superintend- 
ing the erection of the Rufus Clark and wife training and 
theological school. Such a building could never have been 
erected but for the oversight of a mechanic such as he was, he 
having been a carpenter before he became a preacher. He was 
also a good bookkeeper, and rendered valuable service in that 
respect. 



201 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

There were heroic, faithful workers there in the years pre- 
ceding 1889, as there have been since. 

In Africa, in dealing With native children for doing wrong, 
we took a piece of pasteboard or a card about six inches 
square, and put a string in two corners long enough to reach 
around the neck, with the card hanging over the breast. On 
that we wrote the kind of wrong they were guilty of. If one 
had lied we wrote in large letters, "I am a liar"; if it were 
stealing, we wrote, "I am a thief" ; when given to quarreling, 
we wrote, "I am quarrelsome"; or, "I am lazy," etc. They 
dreaded that way of being punished more than to be flogged, 
and not unfrequently begged to have the card taken off and to 
be flogged instead. 



202 



CHAPTERS XLI AND XLIL 

1891-92-93 — A United Brethren Pastor — Preaching for Congregation- 
alists — The Proprieties — Some Experiences — Fell Asleep at 
Prayer — Among the Unfortunates of London. 

I once had a school teacher who had an excellent faculty of 
making comparisons. He showed the class in geography the 
trinity of oceans by saying that the Pacific, Atlantic, and 
Indian oceans were one and yet three. • A theological writer 
used the same illustration to explain the trinity of the God- 
head. Some families are three or more, and yet one. I call 
to mind a family of three who were one in every respect. 
There were the father, the mother, and their only son, none of 
whom could be induced, under any circumstances, to differ 
from the others respecting dress, work, or church operations. 
Wrjat was the mind of one the other two agreed to. 

As I was a United Brethren pastor part of the time, and a 
Congregational pastor most of the fortieth, forty-first, and 
forty-second years of my ministerial life, and without regular 
-work a few months of each of these years,' I will make this 
chapter a trinity in the sense of saying something of the work 
I did in each. 

After the division of the Church, in 1889, owing to certain 
things which had occurred, I did not feel at home in the 
Church, and hence spent most of these three years preaching 
for Congregationalists, though I never withdrew from our 
Church. Thinking that I would get over that feeling, I did 
commence my forty-first year by taking charge of a United 
Brethren mission station in my own conference. I spent three 
months of the previous year as a supply in a large town on a 
new mission, which had been commenced but a short time 
previously, the meetings being held in a small hall. There I 

203 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

preached every morning and night, and went one mile into the 
country to preach in the afternoon. The country appoint- 
ment had a membership scattered over considerable territory, 
which caused me to walk a good deal. From the beginning 
I resolved to buy a lot for a church in the town, which I did 
at a cost of $1,000, and secured subscriptions for most of the 
money, going to several other places to get some of it. The 
lot was bought, and upon it there was built a substantial 
church, which is now self-supporting and doing well. The 
quarter spent there was an unusually busy one. Not having 
been in the regular work as pastor for thirty-five years, being 
secretary of the Board of Missions and missionary to Africa, 
I had to learn many things anew. The methods of work had 
changed, and new measures had been instituted, so that it was 
like commencing anew in the ministry. All went well enough 
for several months on the charge last given me, when my wife 
was stricken with paralysis, and was entirely helpless for 
several weeks. Because of my being abroad so much for sev- 
eral years, I had moved my family to my wife's native home, 
in Willoughby, Ohio, about twenty years before, having bought 
a good home there. I offered my resignation, but the official 
board declined to accept it, and provided a supply for a time. 
After about six months I returned, but had not been there 
long when the word came that my wife was in such a condition 
that it was necessary for me to be at home, when I resigned 
the charge. 

I had not been at home more than a few weeks until I was 
offered a pastorate by the Congregationalists, at a point so 
near my home that I could be there whenever necessary. I 
was employed for one year, and went to work. The methods 
were so different from ours, that I had to learn how to be 
pastor in a Congregational church. I pleased the people 
about as well as they pleased me, and that was only tolerably 
well. Going there in mid-winter, and finding the majority of 
the leading members of the church living from one to three 
miles from the village, I had some long, muddy walks. I have 

204 



In the Gospel Ministry 

a very distinct recollection of pulling through the mud afoot, 
when it was well nigh impossible to do so. The people were 
always cordial in receiving me at their homes, and much 
interested in my welfare. Being few in number, and scattered 
so widely in a country with muddy roads, made it impossible 
to have week-night prayer-meetings, so we had week-day 
prayer-meetings at two in the afternoon. There were three 
deacons, one of whom was not active on account of old age, 
but one of the best men I ever knew. I often saw him, though 
he lived two miles from the village. He had a happy faculty 
of talking religion, and he loved it. He never got to hear me 
preach except once. I preached his funeral. The other two 
deacons were good men, but one never prayed in public, al- 
though he stood very high in the community. The other 
deacon prayed and spoke in public. I received seven new 
members into the church while there, and all of them picked 
fruit, and good. I once proposed a protracted meeting, but 
it was not heartily seconded, the leading members declaring 
that picked fruit was preferable, by which was meant that 
I should go to people and by personal persuasion induce them 
to be Christians. So I did. The communion was observed 
every two months, at which time members were received into 
church. The people made a great deal of propriety, and 
freely spoke of what was becoming and what was not. Espe- 
cially on funeral occasions everything was to be done to a dot 
and in the'line of propriety. I preached six or eight funerals 
during the year, where my church choir furnished the music. 
At one place the funeral was being held in the house where 
the death occurred. I saw the members of the choir go out, 
although it was time to commence, and I went to look for 
them, and ther.e behind a shed they stood, in the snow, practic- 
ing pieces to be sung. I always let them select the music, 
and on this occasion the only opportunity to practice was out 
of doors. A sad occasion was a double funeral, both members 
of the church and good people. The father, mother, and 
daughter, living two miles from the village, had come to 

205 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

church in a buggy. Keturning home, while crossing the rail- 
road track the daughter heard the express train coming, but 
the horse could not be stopped and they were struck. The 
mother was killed instantly, and the daughter died that night. 
The father was made a cripple for life. . With two hearses in 
the procession, and a long row of carriages, and with two 
coffins in church before me, it was an impressive occasion. 

Having been elected to membership on the Board of Mis- 
sions, I met in all its annual meetings, and while I was get- 
ting on well I was not doing the work I felt most interested 
in, nor was I working in the church I wished to work in. 

The following will show one of the experiences such as 
pioneer ministers were subjected to. Two preachers held a 
camp-meeting for a week, and at that early day had to do 
about all the preaching, exhorting, and praying that was done 
there. At the beginning of the meeting they had promised to 
visit a family a mile and a half from the camp ground. The 
last meeting closed at midnight, when the woman reminded 
them of their promise. As they had to leave for another camp 
meeting early next morning, worn out as they were they 
concluded to go there that night. They reached the cabin at 
one o'clock. To show her appreciation of the visit she pre- 
pared a good meal, after which they had family worship. The 
one from whom the writer got this narrative said he feared he 

would go to sleep, and so he said, "Brother J , you lead 

the worship." They knelt, and he commenced to pray, but 
had not gone far before he fell asleep, and as he was going to 
sleep he said, "We will look to G-od for his blessing and be 
dismissed," and then his head rested on the chair beside which 
he knelt, and all was silent as death for a moment. He soon 
waked up however, and all got off their knees, an embarrassed 
company. After a good laugh they made their apology, and 
went to bed and slept two hours. 

Once in London I accompanied a policeman, on a very rough 
night in the month of March, from midnight till daylight. 
The policeman's beat that night was where vagrants and bad 

206 



In the Gospel Ministry 

men and women were found under bridges, or close to the 
walls of large manufacturing establishments, where the walls 
remained warm all night, or in market houses, or any place 
where poor, half -clad and hungry people could stay. We saw 
over one hundred of these unfortunates, English, German, 
Scotch, Irish, French, and two Americans. One French- 
man told us he had had nothing to eat for three days, 
and that he intended to kill himself that morning. To all 
these, except a few well-known criminals who had frequently 
been fed before, and who were known to be impostors, tickets 
were given that entitled them to breakfast at a certain hall at 
seven o'clock the next morning. There were one hundred and 
thirty-one persons in that hall for breakfast, and I became a 
waiter. The chapel was built like any other chapel, and 
seated one hundred and fifty. All sat while eating. The 
breakfast consisted of two large pieces of bread, with meat 
sandwiched between them, and one pint of coffee. The bread 
and meat were put into a paper bag, and coffee given them in 
a tin cup. After the breakfast was served we held religious 
services; the superintendent read the Scriptures, announced 
a hymn, which they sang well, and prayed, after which I 
preached a twenty-minute sermon. After that those unem- 
ployed had to leave that warm room and go out — not home, 
for they were homeless. All who wished work were sent out 
of the city to stay with farmers who would give them employ- 
ment. Few staved in the country. 



207 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

1893-9-1 — A Congregational Pastorate — Types of Church-members— 
Would Not Unite — A Prohibitionist. 

At the annual session of the conference to which I be- 
longed, I asked to be left without work in 1893, on the ground 
that there was a full supply of laborers without me, and that 
I had an invitation to preach for the Congregational Church. 
The conference granted my request, and I at once accepted the 
call. There were three churches to serve on that charge. The 
principal one was in a town that had a Baptist, Methodist, 
and Disciple church, and all had resident pastors. I made 
that place my home, preaching every Sabbath morning, help- 
ing in the Sabbath school, and leading the Wednesday night 
prayer-meeting. On alternate Sunday afternoons I preached 
at country churches, one four miles from headquarters, and 
the other six miles away. This was a year of much valuable 
experience to me. I had more active workers, more men and 
women who would speak and pray publicly, than at any other 
Congregational church which I had served. I received twenty 
members into the church at one of my afternoon appoint- 
ments, but none at the other places. My pastorate there was 
to me and to the people entirely satisfactory, so much so to 
them that at the end of the year I received the vote of every 
member of the church to continue with them another year. 

As my wife was still an invalid, and could not keep house, 
she was taken to Indianapolis to live with a daughter. But 
for that I would have served the Congregationalists another 
year. 

Some types of members found on this charge may interest 
the reader. In the town church there was a Christian En- 

208 




MISS ELLA SCHENCK 
Massacred in Africa, May 3, 1898 




MISS MARY C. ARCHER, M.D. 
Massacred in Africa, May 3, 1898 



In the Gospel Ministry 

deavor society, made up of the young people of all the churches 
of the place, which was a real blessing to it. At one of the 
afternoon appointments there was also what was called a Chris- 
tian Endeavor society, but it was little else than a young peo- 
ple's frolicking and courting school. It was in a neighborhood 
where all was demoralization in the church and community. 
A leading rich member of the church there had been offended, 
and he seemed to think that the church could not get on with- 
out him, and, indeed, it could not well, while he was staying 
away and keeping others away. His wife and daughter, who 
were excellent women, were greatly handicapped by his con- 
duct. The man was determined not to be reconciled. He had 
been offended, whether with or without cause, and he intended 
to remain so. I visited him several times, and finally pre- 
vailed upon him to hear me preach just once. He came, but 
went away from church highly displeased, because certain 
people were not invited to sing in the choir, and no persuasion 
or explanation could be made to satisfy him. He was like the 
man who came home drunk and put his old hat in the middle 
of the floor, and then told his wife that if she picked it up he 
would flog her, and if she let it lie there he would flog her. 

There was another family that was as peculiar as he, but in 
a different respect. The man was also a rich farmer, and his 
wife a good woman. They lived in good style, and were highly 
respected. Neither of them would unite with any church, 
and yet they attended church regularly. She sang in the 
choir, and he was one of its best financial supports, but 
unlike the cranky, complaining man just described, they 
would do nothing in the way of managing church affairs, 
though always ready to take hold and carry out the plans and 
arrangements made by others. The one would be bell-sheep 
or nothing, while the others would never be bell-sheep, but 
always were willing to follow and carry out the arrangements 
made by the pastor and official members of the church. They 
did much to build up Congregationalism, though not members 



209 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

of the church, while the other man, who was a member, did 
more to pull down than to build up. 

There was another man who had been a great help to the 
church, but had withheld his support from it for the reason 
that all the members of the congregation were not out and 
out prohibitionists. He came to hear me several times, and it 
so happened that I preached a temperance sermon, emphasiz- 
ing strongly the duty of Christians to taste not, handle not, 
and swallow not the accursed thing that makes drunk. He 
was highly pleased with that sermon, but found out that I did 
not always vote the Prohibition ticket, and that spoiled all. I 
visited him before and after that sermon, to get him to work 
with us, but he would not, though a member of the church. 

The. people really relished plain gospel preaching, and 
complimented me several times for hitting them hard, saying 
that they deserved all they got. Twice I was asked to unite 
with that church and become fully one of them, but I declined. 

I once stayed all night with an old chief in Africa, who was 
telling of the bad conduct of some of his wives who had run 
away. Asking his son, who seemed to be. second headman of 
the town, how many wives his father had, he said he did 
not know, but that he had commenced getting wives when he 
was a young man, and he had kept on getting wives ever since ; 
pointing to a young girl about twelve years of age, he said 
she was one of his wives which he got the previous week. That 
old chief was not less than seventy or seventy-five years old 
then. 

Visiting the headman at sea-bar once, and seeing a beauti- 
ful witch greegree, I asked him to sell it to me. That man, 
with his eyes flashing anger, said, "What, you go take my 
witch medicine from me, so witch come and kill me one 
time !" He meant that if he did not keep the greegree a witch 
would kill him at once. 



210 



CHAPTEK XLIV. 

1894-95 — Serving a Mission Church — "Pioneer Sermon" — The Many- 
Lives of a Debt — Hard Work and Worry — Too late for the 
Funeral. 

Several months before closing my work as pastor of the 
Congregational church, I was invited to accept a mission 
station in the White River Conference by one of the presiding 
elders of that body. I consented to do so, owing to the con- 
tinned illness of my wife and the necessity of her removal to 
Indianapolis to live with onr daughter there. I attended 
Miami Annual Conference, where I was a member, and there 
learned I was appointed to Columbus, Indiana, which is but 
forty miles south of Indianapolis. At that session of the 
Miami Conference it became my duty to preach what was 
known as a "pioneer sermon," that plan having been com- 
menced the year before, when Rev. W. J. Shuey preached the 
first pioneer sermon, he being the oldest member of that body, 
and I next oldesjt. The following quotations from that sermon 
show what United Brethren pioneers were and did: "The 
key-note of their lives, both in the laity and ministry, was to 
be saved from sin, and know it, and to convince the irreligious 
that they were in danger of being lost without this knowledge. 
Xot to know that one was saved was, in their estimation, 
equivalent to not being saved. Like a man who was the legal 
heir to a large estate, but living and dying without that knowl- 
edge, it would do him no good. They certainly had some 
strong proof-texts in the New Testament supporting their 
views upon this subject, such as St. Paul's words: Tor we 
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- 
solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with 
•hands, eternal in the heavens/ The following, from St. 

211 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

John's epistle, is also to the point: 'We know that we have 
passed from- death unto life, because we love the brethren. He 
that loveth not his brother abideth in death/ Like these in- 
spired writers, the pioneer ministers of the United Brethren 
Church in Miami Conference knew that they were saved, and 
could tell others how it was done. This they did with so much 
unction as to make the word of God 'quick and powerful, 
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart/ Like Apollos, they were mighty in the Scriptures, and 
being fervent in the Spirit, they spoke and taught diligently 
the things of the Lord. As a matter of course, then as now, 
some did not magnify their office, but these were the excep- 
tions, and not the rule. Teaching religion, not philosophy, or 
geology, or astronomy, or science of any kind, but that, 'deny- 
ing ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
righteously, and Godly in this present world/ was the great 
aim of their discourses. They gave great prominence to the 
'three KV namely, ruin by the fall, redemption through 
Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. To make the 
unsaved realize that they were sinners before God, thaf Christ 
had redeemed them by giving his life for them, and that with- 
out a personal interest in his blood they would be separated 
from the presence of God and the glory of his power forever, 
were the truths which they pressed home upon the consciences 
of men." 

As the White Eiver Conference had met a week earlier than 
Miami, I left on Saturday morning and reached Columbus 
that night, commencing . my work there the next day. The 
day was hot and the audience small. The church had just 
been built, and was not dedicated yet. It was one mile from 
the center of the city, and quite a distance from any other 
church. About four miles away in the country, was another 
good church-house, but with only a few scattered members. 
These two points constituted the field of labor given me. The 

212 



In the Gospel Ministry 

division of the church in 1889 had badly disrupted the society, 
and several of its most influential members had left and gone 
to the Eadicals. Some had removed from that neighborhood, 
and altogether that point was badly demoralized. The society 
in town was also weak, so that there was not a very hopeful 
outlook. In the name of the Lord I set up my banner, 
preaching in the city morning and night, and in the country 
in the afternoon. I attended Sabbath schools at both places, 
and the prayer-meeting in the city, and tried to increase the 
attendance at all these meetings. It was hard work to keep 
any of them going profitably. There were a few faithful 
workers at both places, but so few as to discourage us all at 
times. 

A few months later, at my request, the church in Columbus 
was dedicated by Bishop Kephart, and the small debt was 
fully provided for by subscriptions, mostly obtained by myself 
before the day of dedication ; but alas ! like some other sub- 
scriptions, all were not paid, nor was the debt on that house. 
That church debt had as many lives as a cat. It was like a 
church debt in Dayton, Ohio, that I helped to pay at three 
different times. It was not because any money had been mis- 
appropriated, but because some had failed to pay what they 
had subscribed ; some because they were not able, others not 
willing, and some died before their subscriptions became 
due. Church debts should not be made without the best of 
reasons, and then they should not run for years, to the detri- 
ment of God's cause and the reproach of Christians. I have 
known local church debts to keep societies for years from 
contributing to the general interests of the Church. There 
are cases where the people would neither pay the church debt, 
nor give money to missions, education, or any church enter- 
prise, though abundantly able to do so. It looked a little as 
if they kept the local debts unpaid as an excuse for not pay- 
ing to any general church interest. Some people seem to love 
to tell of their poor health and inability to be useful. Some 
churches boast of their refusal to pay money to God's cause, 

213 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

and their ability to turn down solicitors for religious and 
■benevolent purposes. 

To enlist the services of some people who lived near our 
church in Columbus, but who were members of other churches, 
one of them was made superintendent of our Sunday school. 
He brought into the school a few others, who helped some, and 
all went well for a while ; but alas ! a Christmas entertainment 
one Saturday night resulted disastrously. The entertainment 
was all right, and the house was filled, but I felt bad, and 
left before the exercises closed. That so offended the superin- 
tendent that the next day neither he nor those he could influ- 
ence came to the Sunday school or the preaching. After he 
was visited and explanations made, they were induced to 
return, but it was clearly seen that they were not trying to 
build up our church. The worry arid hard work seriously af- 
fected my health, and I resigned the charge after serving it 
about seven months. My pastorate there was largely a fail- 
ure, and those that followed me found it hard rowing for 
years afterward. 

I knew a minister who was a man of more than ordinary 
natural gifts, and a classical graduate, who failed largely in 
what he undertook because he was wanting in promptness to 
fill his engagements. Once he was to conduct the service at 
the funeral of the grandson of one of our ministers. He was 
told to be on hand promptly at two o'clock, as the burial was 
to be some miles away. To be sure and get him there, his 
wife was told to see to it that he got started in time, which 
she did, but he got into a debate with a neighbor on the 
street, and kept at it until half an hour after the time. The 
grandfather conducted the funeral service, and the people left 
the house ere the pastor got there. It was not the result of 
"malice aforethought/' as the coroner's jury declared to be 
the cause of the death of Sally Pitt, who had committed sui- 
cide. 

While in Columbus I attended a number of cottage holiness 
prayer-meetings, and heard some wonderful experiences re- 

214 



In the Gospel Ministry 

specting the "second work," as it was called. Being asked to 
speak, I said that they were on the right line to insist on 
living a life of holiness, which I was striving to do. I said, 
"Friends, let us obtain this higher life and stay there. Get it 
by the second work route, or otherwise, but reach it and retain 
it. Better not insist so much that it must be just after a cer- 
tain way, but insist on having and living it. A woman in one 
of those meetings said she had not sinned for three years, 
and she did not need to. seek Christ's presence in prayer, for 
he was with her all the time. A few months after this she 
left her husband and children, and went off with another man. 
"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest 
he fall." 



215 



CHAPTER XLV. 

1895-96 — Soliciting — Thrown Over an Embankment and Injured — 
"Our God Has Saved Us." 

After leaving Columbus, Indiana, I spent five months in 
Indianapolis, and attended the United Brethren Church when 
able to go out. I had said, upon first seeing the house they 
worshiped in, that the congregation there would never have 
much success until it got out of the dark, dingy building, into 
a more suitable place for a church. The pastor and people 
realized the truth of my statement, but, in view of their 
poverty, they felt unable to remove into a more desirable part 
of the city and a better house. I kept the matter before them, 
and finally helped them to subscribe money to remove. In 
this it was apparent that their zeal had gone beyond their abil- 
ity to pay. I proposed to spend a year getting subscriptions 
by going throughout the conference and soliciting for a new 
church. My proposition to work for six hundred dollars a 
year, and give two hundred dollars of that sum toward the 
enterprise, was accepted. With the very generous subscription 
of the congregation I succeeded reasonably well in obtaining 
help, but mostly in sums of only five dollars and ten dollars. 
I thus spent most of the winter, often remaining from three 
to four days in one neighborhood, assisting in protracted 
meetings. I did considerable hard work for eight months, 
when an accident befell me which utterly disabled me, and 
came near ending my life. My deliverance from death was so 
remarkable as to deserve a description of it here. 

The pastor of the Pendleton Circuit had me preach at a 
point one mile from Pendleton one Sabbath night. A heavy 
shower of rain and hail commenced falling as he and I were 

216 



In the Gospel Ministry 

getting into the buggy to drive to Pendleton after the ser- 
vice. The man with whom we were to stay was afoot, and 
soon after starting he called to us and asked to get into the 
buggy with us, as it was so dark he could not see the road. 
The pastor said to him, "I can't see it either." As we halted 
the horse, being struck in the face by the falling hail, backed 
a little, and then there came a crash such as I never exper- 
ienced. The buggy and its occupants, with the horse, went 
over an embankment into a gravel-pit, the horse over the 
buggy, and the buggy over us, I being on the under side as it 
capsized. For a moment the pressure was so great that I felt 
it would crush my life out, but the combination kept rolling 
on, until we landed twenty-five feet from where we started. 
Eight feet of that bank, next to the road, was almost perpen- 
dicular, and then it sloped, at an angle of about forty-five 
degrees, for fifteen feet more, to the bottom of the gravel-pit, 
where we landed in mud and water.,- A lantern was soon 
brought, and there stood the buggy right side up, with nearly 
all the spokes broken out of one wheel, the top torn into frag- 
ments, and shafts broken off and lying under the buggy, the 
harness all off of the horse, which stood near by trembling. 
We went to a house near there and stayed all night. My chest 
was sore, several ribs being fractured, and I slept none that 
night. Xeither the pastor who was with me, nor the horse 
were hurt, except a few slight bruises. 

A number of people came the next morning to see the dis- 
tance we rolled from the top of the bank to the bottom of the 
gravel-pit, and among them was an infidel editor of a paper, 
who said that the devil had nearly killed us that time. -"It may 
be that Satan had a hand in that tumble," said the pastor, 
"but our God has saved us," and truly that was the case. In 
all my ocean traveling (having then made eleven round trips 
to Africa, and having been shipwrecked twice), in the thou- 
sands of miles I had gone on railroads, in the many narrow 
escapes from drowning when in rowboats in Africa, and in 
numerous other hairbreadth escapes by land and sea. none 

217 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

came so near causing my death as that tumble in a buggy. My 
chest became very sore, and it continued so about six months, 
when it left me suddenly and I had my usual health. 

About a month after that accident I felt my limbs were 
losing their strength, and walking became difficult. I resolved 
to remedy that if possible, and did so by walking half a mile 
at a time, repeating the effort after a short rest. I did this 
several times daily, and kept increasing the distance until I 
could walk two miles. Had I given up and not forced myself 
to exercise my limbs, as too many old people do, I probably 
soon could not have walked any. Having a little strength 
left, I used that, and have kept at it, so that now, in my 
eighty-third year, I can walk a couple of miles. 

At the close of this year I attended my conference, which 
met in Dayton, Ohio, and when my name was called, I said 
to the conference that on my way there I had visited several 
cemeteries with a view to selecting a final resting-place for 
my body, feeling that, with my soul's salvation secured 
through Christ, all I had to do now was to await the summons 
from earth to heaven. 

As we were then to live with our daughter in Columbus, 
Ohio, instead of with the one in Indianapolis, Indiana, my 
wife had gone on before to Columbus. I went there from 
Dayton, and was arranging to kill time and do nothing but 
eat, drink, and behave the balance of my life. So ended this 
forty-fifth year of my ministerial life, and also my life's 
work, as I then thought, but the Lord had arranged it quite 
differently. 



218 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

1896-97 — An Eventful Year — A Letter — To Africa for the Radicals — 
A Remarkable Meeting — Meeting the Head Man. 

Of all the fifty-five years of my ministerial life, the forty- 
sixth was the most remarkable. ' My health coming back to 
me suddenly and unexpectedly after that fearful buggy wreck. 
I regarded as providential. The good voyage I had to Africa 
and back, and the successful work done, under God, by Mr. 
Wilberforce and myself, opening several mission stations and 
holding a revival meeting which continued only eight days 
and resulted in organizing a church of fifty members, made 
this indeed an extraordinary year in the history of my life. 
All this being done when nearly seventy-one years old, and 
after arranging to retire from active work because of my age 
and infirmities, and with what I have done since that time, 
makes the impression deep in my mind that God led and kept 
me. While, with the psalmist, I can say, "Goodness and 
mercy have followed me all the days of my life," truly good- 
ness and mercy followed me in a marked manner during this 
year. 

I will here quote a paragraph from a letter of explanation 
which appeared in the Religious Telescope: 

"During August, September, and October, 1890, five years 
previous to my last trip to Africa, I received letters from 
Eevs. J. Gomer and D. F. Wilberforce, saying that for want 
of money four mission stations were without laborers, and 
that others would be if financial .help did not reach them 
soon. They urged me to collect money and send it. I wrote 
them that for me to do so would be misunderstood, and bring 
me into conflict with the officers of the Missionary Society, 

219 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

and urged them to do the best they could with the money they 
had. I received two letters in one week, imploring me to send 
money at once. I replied to each without delay, and as I was 
returning from the post-office, after mailing the last letter, 
thinking how disappointed and sad they would be at my in- 
ability to help them, it came to me forcibly that if I could not 
assist them, through the Liberal United Brethren Church, I 
might, perhaps, through the Eadicals. In a week or two, and 
in a manner wholly unexpected, the way was opened for me 
to go to Africa, on certain conditions, for the Eadical United 
Brethren Church. 

It is not necessary now to relate how I consulted with my 
friends in the Church, and how they sought to dissuade me 
from going,, predicting unfortunate results to the missions if 
I gave my services to the Eadicals. I went to Africa for the 
twelfth time, and witnessed some wonderful manifestations 
of God's power. 

In the fifty-five years of my ministry I have seen and heard 
many remarkable things in connection with the services in 
God's house, but March 1, 1896, surpassed all others in that 
respect. During the previous week meetings had been held 
every night. The congregations were large, and deeply inter- 
ested in the services, and about thirty persons for three suc- 
cessive nights arose, asking the prayers of Christians, and fifty 
gave their names as candidates for membership. Mr. Wilber- 
force had some time before taken a list of twelve names, six 
of whom were still seekers. These twelve, added to the thirty- 
eight new converts, made fifty, of whom sixteen were full 
members and thirty-four were seekers. Then there were forty- 
seven persons baptized, about twenty-four of whom were 
adults, thirteen mission boys and girls, and ten infants. 

Our mud chapel was so packed that we could scarcely find 
room for all to stand. An old heathen woman came forward 
and insisted on being baptized, and as she had been coming 
to our meetings all week, and was an honorable heathen 
woman, I felt it right to gratify her wishes. Three children 

220 



In the Gospel Ministry 

were brought to be baptized, whom I was asked to name. Two 
mothers with infants lashed to their backs came to have them 
baptized, standing sidewise so I could reach the heads of their 
children. As I was giving the right hand of fellowship, an 
elderly man with only a country cloth on, screamed with pain. 
He had a very sore finger, of which I did not know, and grasp- 
ing his hand I hurt it. These and other ludicrous things oc- 
curred, and yet such was the seriousness of the people that 
there was no foolish laughing or unbecoming conduct. The 
meeting throughout was very orderly, and the people showed 
that God had touched their hearts. A man less than thirty 
years old, after having asked prayers for three successive 
nights, said his heart was bad and it kept him from doing 
right, and then he broke out in the following prayer : "0 God, 
thou seest my heart is bad, and do, Lord, give me better heart. 
Lord, you make my heart, and I bring it to thee to fix em, 
for if you can't fix em, then no one can help me." A real 
work of opening the eyes of the blind, and turning men from 
darkness to light, had been accomplished by the Holy Spirit 
in his case and others, at that meeting. 

I must not omit my introduction to the head man and 
the people on this trip. All met in the country chapel, and 
it was quite a crowd. Mr. Wilberforce told them he was 
named after me, and that I had secured his education in 
America, and was his "daddy," and had come there to do him 
and them good. Then he called on me for some remarks. I 
said I remembered the time when Mr. Wilberforce was born 
and named after me, and that I was glad to find the head man 
and all so friendly to the missions, and hoped the head man 
would give ground for it, and help all he could. The head 
man said he was very glad to see me, and as I had come far 
to see them, I must be "plenty hungry," and they had brought 
me rice, — about four bushels, — and a sheep, which was tied 
in sight, and that I must full myself good, and then they 
would do as I told them, adding that Mr. Wilberforce was 
their "daddy," and as I was his "daddy," he must tell them 

221 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

what I wanted them to do, and they would do it. I thanked 
him for his good words and present, and in return I made him 
a present, and we parted good friends. 



222 



CHAPTER XLVIL 

1897-98 — Holding Missionary Meetings — Joint Missionary Magazine — 
Letter to Miami Conference. 

Immediately after my. re turn from Africa in April, 1896, 
I visited many places, lecturing on Africa and preaching mis- 
sionary sermons. I also attended the annual meetings of the 
parent Board of Missions, and of the Woman's Missionary 
Association of the Radical United Brethren Church. A quota- 
tion from an article I wrote in their church organ will show 
how I found things, and what I did during part of the forty- 
seventh year of my ministerial life. Late in June, 1896, I 
wrote as follows : "While there was much that suited me at 
the missionary meetings held last month at Charlotte, Mich- 
igan, and Leaf River, Illinois, nothing pleased me more than 
the hearty approval of both boards to publish a joint mission- 
ary magazine. No one tried to show how such a magazine 
could not be published without loss. Formerly nothing was 
more distasteful to me than for prominent members of mis- 
sion boards to show how things could not be done. It may be 
that class of people have all gone to heaven ; I sincerely hope 
so, for this world, and especially mission boards, do not need 
such, but do greatly need wide-awake, heroic, self-sacrificing 
people to show how things can be done, and then go right 
along and do them. The two boards are to be equal parties 
in this magazine, each occupying half the space and sharing 
half the profits. There were no arrangements made for any 
losses, nor need there be. It is to cost fifty cents a year, and 
the publisher is to publish it on a paying basis." 

I wish here to insert my letter, written to the secretary of 
the Miami Annual Conference, telling of my withdrawal from 

223 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

the conference and the Church. It was addressed to Eev. 
C. J. Burkert, secretary of the conference, from G-reensburg, 
Indiana, August 25, 1896 : 

u As you, and most of the Miami Conference know, I became 
a member of the Eadical United Brethren Church last Decem- 
ber, and have been doing missionary work in said church 
ever since. When my name is called next week at your annual 
meeting, you will please give notice of my withdrawal from 
the Miami Conference, and the Liberal United Brethren 
Church. By the time you are through with the examination 
of character in Lewisburg next week I will be at the fourth 
annual conference this year already. But for this kind of 
work now pressing me, I should be at Lewisburg with you. 
With best wishes for your welfare, and the members of Miami 
Conference, I am sincerely yours." 



224 




MISS MARIETTA HATFIELD, M.D. 
Massacred in Africa, May 3, 1898 




REV. AND MRS. L. A. McGREW 
Massacred in Africa, May 9, 1898 



CHAPTEE XL VIII. 

1898-99 — Elected Missionary Secretary — At Huntington, Ind. — An 
Absent-Minded Minister. 

A few months before this years work was commenced, I 
was elected corresponding secretary of the Domestic, Frontier, 
and Foreign Missionary Society of the Eadical United Breth- 
ren Church. I soon entered upon the duties of that office, 
which position was easily filled by me, having spent nearly 
twenty-eight years in that capacity. By virtue of that position 
I became editor of the first eight pages of the Missionary 
Mojithly. Thus by the use of the pen, and by public addresses 
and otherwise, I labored to promote missions. Two pages of 
the eight I filled with editorial matter, and sought to impress 
the importance of laboring zealously for the enlightenment 
and salvation of all who were without Christ. During this 
year the Badical Church moved its headquarters from Dayton, 
Ohio, to Huntington, Indiana, making it necessary for me to 
go to Huntington, where I continued to work up till June 1, 
1905. Being among the people a good deal, during this and 
some succeeding years, to hold missionary meetings and attend 
annual conferences, I learned much of human nature. 
The bitterness and unreasonableness of some people made me 
wish sometimes that I was as absent minded as two men I 
knew well, one a minister and the other a layman. I really 
should have been glad to have forgotten as easily as the lay- 
man referred to could forget things. I was called to preach 
the funeral of a grandson of this man. After the burial we 
went back to the house for dinner, and as we sat at the table I 
remarked to the grandfather that the funeral had been largely 
attended. The old gentleman replied, "I do not know ; I was 

15 225 



Fifty --five Years of Active Life 

not there." He had ridden two miles on horseback to the 
church, and sat on the front seat close to the coffin while I 
preached, and yet he had forgotten all about it in a few 
hours. A short time before this he had written a letter to his 
daughter in Indiana, and after all this was done he went from 
his room to the kitchen to ask what his own name was, and 
when about half way there he suddenly stopped and said, 
"Why, my name is Philip Fry." He frequently forgot the 
names of members of the family. 

An absent-minded minister lived in Dayton for years, and 
edited a religious paper. I have known him to start from his 
office for dinner, come down two flights of stairs and get half 
across the street, when the cold on his bald head would re- 
mind him of his hat, which he had left in his office. Once he 
overslept, and told his wife to hurry the preparation of break- 
fast, while he went to bring a loaf of bread from the bakery 
two squares away. He walked right past the bakery and went 
to his office, half a mile away, and worked till after ten o'clock, 
when, feeling hungry, it came to him that he had forgotten to 
return with , bread, so he started back to get the bread, and 
again walked right by the bakery home without it, when his 
wife sharply reminded him of leaving her without bread. 
Bread was finally procured and a meal eaten, which that day 
was both breakfast and dinner. He and I lived near each 
other, and we were to go to a dedication service one Saturday, 
leaving on the one o'clock train. All was ready, except that 
my friend could not find his Sunday coat. Finally he remem- 
bered that he had left it at a tailor's shop to be repaired, and 
he secured it just in time to catch the train. Once he went 
on horseback to a meeting and walked home with a brother 
for dinner, leaving his horse hitched near the church. 

In some African villages, adjacent to mission stations where 
the people wished to observe Sabbath, they would cut seven 
niches, or put seven holes in a piece of wood, and call the top 
one Sunday. They sometimes got things sadly mixed, for I 
occasionally found them keeping Thursday or some other day 

226 



In the Gospel Ministry 

for Sunday. Their simple way of telling when Sunday would 
come was all right, provided the peg for the holes or string 
for the niche was moved every day. 



227 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

1898-99 — Uprising in Africa — D. F. Wilberforce Escapes — "Boofima" 
— The Rufus Clark School — Naming Children. 

There was a terrible uprising of the natives in that part 
of Africa occupied by the United Brethren missionaries, the 
last day of April, 1898. An organized effort was made by 
the natives to massacre all missionaries and traders who were 
favorable to civilized life. The people saw that Christianity 
was undermining their heathenish barbarities, and hence all 
missionaries, traders, and business men, white and black, 
favorable to Christianity, were to be killed. Buildings and all 
things which might enable these classes to resume business 
were to be demolished, and heathenism was to be made su- 
preme. Missions of the United Brethren Church were much 
injured by this uprising. Seven capable American mission- 
aries and many natives were killed, and thousands of dollars 
worth of property was destroyed. 

Only one of the missionaries of the Radical United Breth- 
ren Church was killed, Mr. Clemens, a colored man. The 
escape of Rev. D. F. Wilberforce and Miss Mary Mullen, the 
only white person there, was miraculous. Mr. Clemens was 
employed in March, 1896, but did not enter upon the work 
until nearly a year afterward. He was a native of Africa, 
and had spent several years in this country getting an educa- 
tion and learning a trade. He was a tinner, and possessed 
some mechanical genius, and was a good man. He rendered 
valuable service as teacher and preacher, and his untimely 
and barbarous death was greatly lamented. He was cut to 
pieces and thrown into a hole at Bangbiah. 

228 



In the Gospel Ministry 

On June 27 a cablegram reached me saying, "Wilberforce 
and family safe in Bonthe." The months of suspense in re- 
spect to his fate were terrible ones. This will be more fully 
understood when it is known what he had done, and was do- 
ing, and the estimation in which he was held by his Church. 
The Missionary Board passed the following resolution: 
"While we hope almost against fate that the lives of several 
missionaries have been providentially spared, we solemnly 
pledge our hearts and hands for manly effort, with the Lord's 
help, to raise up Africa redeemed, as a monument to the 
memory of our crucified Lord, and his crucified missionaries. 

"Whether living or dead, we will tenderly cherish and ever 
honor the memory of D. F. Wilberforce, our great African 
missionary, and that of Mrs. Elizabeth Wilberforce, his not 
less worthy wife, and that of their family and other laborers. 
Their pious useful lives will long live in the hearts and annals 
of Imperri. 

"Resolved, 1. That, if in the gracious providence of God 
the life of Eev. D. F. Wilberforce is still spared, he be recog- 
nized, as heretofore, as being superintendent of Imperri 
mission. 

"2. That Sunday, the twenty-fourth of July, be recognized 
as memorial day, and that our pastors throughout the Church 
are hereby earnestly requested to hold memorial services in 
their several churches, and take up by subscription and other- 
wise, in behalf of our treasury, a memorial fund to aid our 
missionary work in Africa, and that our bishops and general 
officers be requested* to give all the aid within their power to 
make this effort successful." 

From reports made just before the uprising, some idea of 
the prosperity of the missions may be gathered. At a meet- 
ing held by Mr. Wilberforce and J. B. Brainard, at Gangal- 
loh, nine persons gave their names, expressing their wish to 
be on the Lord's side. More could have been secured, but it 
was thought best not to receive them until they were further 
taught with regard to the requirements of Christianity. 

229 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

At a meeting held at Mr. Wilberforce's home, between 
Christmas and New Years, nine adults and some children 
gave evidence of coming to Christ, and among them Chief 
Fornee, the man who gave me such a hearty welcome to that 
country two years before. He spoke feelingly of God's good- 
ness and the benefits of the mission to him. The missionaries 
in the Imperri country were now going into over fifty towns, 
about twenty more than a year previously. The advanced 
pupils in the schools were rendering good service as mission- 
aries. 

I wish to give some extracts from a letter by Bishop Mills, 
who visited Africa about this time, and had good opportuni- 
ties to learn and know the facts. He says : "A sample of native 
fetish is one called Boofima, This I met in the Imperri 
country, where it was introduced some years ago. There was 
war between Taiama and Paramas. The latter sent their war 
boys to make an ambush in the intermediate country, and the 
Imperri people delivered these war boys to the enemy. In 
revenge the Paramas sent fetish Boofima into the Imperri 
country. Its worship was connected with a secret society 
known as the Leopards. Boofima is a roll of rags, annointed 
formerly with animal blood and grease, and is about five 
inches long and two or three inches thick. When it was sent 
into the Imperri country the natives were taught that to en- 
joy the benefits of this powerful fetish they must anoint it 
with human blood and with grease from certain parts of the 
human body. Thus the Paramas hoped to get the people of 
Imperri to exterminate themselves in the making and wor- 
ship of Boofima. 

"The Leopard Society became cannibals, eating the victims 
slain to make Boofima. When they wished to catch a victim, 
some of the men clothed in leopard skins, with sharp, crooked 
knife blades fastened to their fingers, and extending through 
the leopard skin where the claws once were, stole up near the 
man and pounced upon him, seizing him by the throat after 
the manner of the leopard. The man usually died in the at- 

230 



In the Gospel Ministry 

tack, and part of the body was eaten and more Boofinia was 
made; but if he escaped death, the assailant was thought to 
be a real leopard, which he much resembled in his cry, appear- 
ance, and the wounds he made. 

"Only two years ago last summer three men from the 
Imperri country were tried in Freetown for murder in con- 
nection with this Boofima. They were convicted and hung. 
It is now believed that the Leopard Society is entirely broken 
up. This particular fetish is losing its influence, and soon 
will be dead, for fetish subjects are deemed dead, and the 
people lose confidence in them when the spirit is supposed to 
leave them. For the destruction of this society one of our 
missionaries, Rev. D. F. Wilberforce, must receive the credit. 
In the face of threatened death he fought the order, with the 
aid of British law, till it has well nigh disappeared from 
Imperri. The number of fetish objects is unknown: as the 
old ones fall into disfavor, new ones are taken up. They even 
now linger in Christian lands, as lucky stones, or unlucky 
days, or the number thirteen, etc., and all the light of the 
nineteenth century cannot banish them from our land." 

When Bishop Mills was in Africa the second time, in 1904, 
he bore the following testimony respecting the usefulness of 
the Eufus Clark school which the writer was criticised for 
building at Shenge : 

"I spent the Sunday following at Shenge, with Alfred 
Sumner. He has done faithful work through the year. He 
is honored as postmaster for the town. Our inability to re- 
store all of our buildings here, and no one coming out this 
fall to increase our force at this point, and some other things, 
have conspired to discourage the people. 

"The Bufus Clark and Wife Training- School, the church, 
and the small wooden building occupied by Alfred Sumner. 
and a clay building for boys, and a few small buildings, are 
all we have been able to restore of the once magnificent plant. 
The church-house and the school-building are in fine condi- 
tion, and if Brother and Sister Clark could only see them, 

231 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

and the work being done here, they would surely leave a 
noble part of their princely fortune to carry on the work in 
West Africa till it is converted to God, and the Kedeemer 
comes to receive his kingdom." 

The Africans have a peculiar system of naming their 
children. The first boy born to African parents has a certain 
name, so of the second, and on to about a half dozen. The 
girls are named in a similar manner. This rule holds good, 
even where several wives have children by the same husband, 
only in that case the name of the mother is added to that of 
the boys or. girls, to distinguish them from the first wife's 
children. 

The people in Africa show taste and love for things which 
are beautiful and impressive. • Chief George Caulker inter- 
preted for me at the dedication of two chapels, at which times 
I read a part of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the tem- 
ple. He was so impressed with the beauty and appropriate- 
ness of that prayer, that he frequently spoke of it to me. 
Chief George Caulker had been educated in England, but 
lived after the heathen style when he returned to Africa. 

Soon after starting on a two-day trip from Shenge once, a 
boatman named Toby begged me to give him a case-knife, I 
having two in my canteen. He was given the knife for the 
trip, with instructions that when we got back to Shenge the 
knife was to be polished as bright as when he received it. As 
we arrived in sight of Shenge on the return, I reminded him 
of his promise. He had used the knife to cut oranges, and 
the acid and dampness of the air made it black and rusty. To 
clean it he simply turned up the bottom of his bare foot, and 
rubbed it, as would be done on a board with brick dust, and 
soon it was as bright as one could desire. He then took his 
woolen shirt, which he had worn for two days, and rubbed it, 
saying, "Massa, that knife very clean now." The natives go 
barefoot always, and the skin on the bottom of the feet gets 
very thick and rough, and enough sand adheres to them to 
make them as good as a scouring brick for polishing metaL 

232 



CHAPTER L. 

1899-1900 — The Madness of Heathenism — Mr. Wilberforce Paramount 
Chief — Still Pleading for Africa. 

Owixg to the uprising in Africa, the fiftieth year was one 
full of labor and care to me. In June, 1899, Mrs. Wilber- 
force and her four children reached Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Wil- 
berforce and his family had many hairbreadth escapes in 
Africa during Ma} f , 1898. The insurgents who killed so many 
missionaries, government officials, traders, white and black, 
were kept from destroying them. Mr. Wilberforce was now 
the paramount chief of the Imperri district, and had estab- 
lished his headquarters at Victoria. He had rendered val- 
uable services to the colony of Sierra Leone, before the up- 
rising and after, in ferreting out and bringing to justice some 
of the leaders of the war against the Colonial government. 
He had for several }-ears spent considerable time in an effort 
at exterminating cannibalism and other great evils in that 
country. His course in these respects did much to incense 
Mohammedans, members of poro societies, and cannibals, 
and to cause them to conspire together to destroy Christian- 
ity. In their madness, and instigated by Satan, they de- 
stroyed the lives of many noble people and much valuable 
property. 

Being chief, it was impossible for him to leave that country 
without great loss to the Colonial government and the mis- 
sion, so he remained while his wife and their four children 
came to the United States. It devolved upon me to secure 
proper quarters for the family, and to see that these four 
children received schooling. This I did, and all were kept in 
school until the fall of 1901, when the mother, the two 
daughters and their father returned to Africa. The two sons 
were students in college till June, 1904. 

233 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Mr. Wilberforce came to America in May, 1901, and re- 
mained until the autumn of that year. During this time 
he visited a number of conferences and other places, preach- 
ings lecturing, and raising money. 

The following was published in the London Times early 
in the year 1899, and is inserted here to show how a great 
newspaper in London, England, looked at things. The 
characterization of things is about right, but it does not tell 
that United Brethren missions did much to bring about the 
changed condition of things in the colony of Sierra Leone. 
The Times says: "In Sierra Leone almost all the rebellious 
chiefs have been apprehended or have surrendered them- 
selves, and confidence is almost entirely restored. Every- 
where the natives are readily paying the hut tax. The 
prospects of Sierra Leone have never been so bright and 
promising as now. With a railway running through the 
fertile district, an abundant revenue with a considerable sur- 
plus, lessened import duties, cheaper markets, and a firm and 
settled policy, the colony has a future before it such as was 
not dreamed of a few years ago." 

During this year I received a number of letters from high 
officials and influential men not to press the African collec- 
tions so hard. Hints were given me, even before I was elected 
secretary in 1897, not to plead, too earnestly for Africa, say- 
ing that home missions must be cared for, and hence Africa 
must not come to the front so much. As a matter of course I 
was influenced by these things, and did not push the financial 
claims of Africa as hard as I might have done, feeling that 
there was some reason for making other interests important. 

At the Board meeting in 1899, however, I gave notice that 
it was my intention to disobey orders the following year, and 
open a way to secure funds for Africa on the annuity plan. 
This I did, and when I closed my work as secretary there was 
in the treasury $19,465, mostly cash, as annuity money. Not 
a few were favorable to abandoning work in Africa. In 1899 
I wrote as follows : "The thought of abandoning Africa be- 

234 



In the Gospel Ministry 

cause of the great slaughter of missionaries there found no 
response upon my part; on the other hand, I felt that must 
not be, even if I must go once more to the dark continent my- 
self. After hearing some say that they had no more money 
for Africa, and that it was wrong to send missionaries there 
to he massacred, my reply was that I was ashamed of such 
United Brethren. Such people surely do not comprehend the 
situation. They generally are converted from the error of 
their way as soon as proper explanation is made to them. 

In Mr. Wilberforce we had more than an ordinary mis- 
sionary. Being an educated native, with years of experience 
as teacher, preacher, diplomat, and general superintendent 
of missions, loving his people, he was a host within himself. 
Bishop Hott, in 1898, wrote the following respecting him: 
"Wilberforce belongs to us all, this by his conversion and edu- 
cation in America, but mostly by his broad mind and great 
heart, and great hope for fruitage of the -work of all the mis- 
sionaries. The last time I saw him, he and Mrs. Wilberforce 
sat with me in his own room in Africa till two hours. past 
midnight, talking of the great work to be done for Africa, of 
plans for the future good of all our work, and God's love to 
us all. He had forgotten none of the kindness shown him by 
our people in America." 

Bishop Kephart the same year wrote as follows: "I shall 
never forget the kindness of Brother Wilberforce and family 
during my two visits to that dark land. A truer' and nobler 
Christian man never set foot in Africa than D. F. Wilber- 
force." This is high praise, coming from two bishops who 
knew Mr. Wilberforce for many years, and were with him in 
Africa. I have known Mr. Wilberforce from his infancy, was 
intimately connected with him during the seven years he 
attended school in Dayton, Ohio, and know fully his manner 
of life, and the great work he has done in Africa, and I am 
quite sure that Bishops Hott and Kephart did not overesti- 
mate the Christian character and worth to the cause of Christ 
of Daniel Flickinger Wilberforce at that time. 

235 



CHAPTER LI. 

1900-01 — Radical United Brethren Missionary Work — After Fifty- 
one Years — Reason for Selecting Africa. 

Some facts about the missionary enterprises of the Board 
which I was serving during several years may be of interest. 

In October, 1899, Rev. R. A. Morrison was sent to Africa 
to superintend the erection of a boys' home, and the Jacob 
Phillips and Wife Chapel. That chapel was built at a cost 
of about five hundred dollars, which sum was furnished by 
Brother and Sister Phillips. Mr. Morrison succeeded well 
in that work until disabled by sickness in the month of May, 
1900, when, upon the advice of his physician, he returned to 
America in July. During Mr. Morrison's visit there he met 
with Messers Wilberforce, Thomas, and Brainard, and held 
a mission district conference. Two small schools were kept, 
and considerable itinerating done-, but as the war had killed 
and scattered over sixty members, no reorganization of the 
church had been attempted since. 

On the last day of September, 1900, Rev. B. O. Hazzard 
and wife sailed from New York for Africa, and reached Dan- 
ville, November 14. He went as acting superintendent of 
Imperri mission, with instructions to erect the girls' home 
for the Woman's Missionary Association; his wife to gather 
up the school children and care for them. Mrs. Hazzard soon 
became incapacitated by sickness, and had to go to England 
for treatment, and then came to the United States. Mr. 
Hazzard stayed there, and died in July, 1902. Mr. Hazzard 
did well in managing business matters, and in holding meet- 
ings and getting the people aroused to a sense of duty. Some 
were converted and brought into the sewice of the Master 
through his labors. 

236 



In the Gospel Ministry 

Mr. Wilberforce becoming paramount chief, his duties were 
snch as to prevent him from doing much for missions; this 
was a great drawback to the work there. 

Suggestions appearing that the Board had better quit 
Africa and commence missions in Cuba, led me to protest as 
follows: "It is all right to go to other places, if men and 
women are available for such undertakings, but to cease in 
Africa would be like leaving a man with both limbs and arms 
broken unhelped, for the sake of helping a man with only one 
arm broken. 

"The United Brethren Church fifty-one years ago attacked 
heathenism in one of its strongholds, and by God's help has 
had success, as the good work done at Shenge, Eotifunk, 
Bonthe, Avery, Bompetook, Koolong, Mambo, Manoh, Dan- 
ville, and other places in Africa attest. Thousands have been 
enlightened, hundreds saved, and scores have gone to heaven 
as a result of our mission work there. It did much toward 
making Bonthe a city of eight thousand people, and Freetown 
a city of forty thousand people, and to increase the commerce 
of the country in which it labors two hundred per cent, above 
what it was fifty-one years ago, requiring the building of a 
railroad from Freetown in a southeasterly direction through 
Eotifunk and Moyamba, and other mission stations on its 
line. Shall we quit Africa now, after doing so much hard 
work and making so many sacrifices, and leave it for others to 
gather the glorious harvest of souls which is sure to be 
gathered there soon by those who cultivate that field? 'Tell 
it not in G-ath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest 
the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of 
the uncircumcised triumph/ 

" 'Slow as the work of Christianizing the people of Africa 
has been, it is more rapid,' says Mr. Green, an accredited 
English historian, 'than it was to bring Great Britain under 
the influence of Christianity/ so that we ought not be discour- 
aged on that account. The meeting at which it was decided 
what heathen country we should first commence mission work 

237 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

in, was held in the autumn of 1853. Bishops Glossbrenner, 
Edwards, and Davis, and Rev. J. C. Bright, the secretary of 
the Board of Missions then, were the leading spirits of that 
meeting. After these men considered the question carefully, 
Bishop Edwards moved that Africa be chosen as our foreign 
mission field. His reasons were that it was more available to 
us than any other, and that being an anti-slavery Church, we 
should do what we could to break the chains by which 
negroes are made slaves in Africa and also in America, Not 
only the three bishops and the secretary of the Board, but all 
the voters of that meeting unanimously agreed to make 
Africa our mission field. Quit Africa now, and impeach the 
wisdom of this trio of bishops who chose Africa as our field— 
these men who never had their superiors in this or any other 
church as wise masterbuilders, able expounders of God's 
Word, and zeal for God's glory in the salvation of mankind? 
We quit Africa ? 'Let my right hand forget her cunning, and 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth/ if I vote to do 
such an unscriptural and foolish thing as that." 



238 



CHAPTER LIL 

1901-02— Division— A Plea for Different Methods— "Feel Bad Too 
Much." 

Two things gave me much anxiety and real grief at times 
during this year. The one was the controversy and division 
among the members of the Publishing House Board of the 
Church of which I was a member. Being in Huntington, 
where the Board and its committee had its meetings, I was 
counseled a good deal, and knowing the great distance that 
one side was from the other, and the bitterness existing, 
it caused me real sorrow. Church quarrels alienate lifelong 
friends and destroy confidence among the most intimate. 
They are earthly, sensual, devilish. To my certain knowledge 
this quarrel kept the Missionary Society from getting five 
thousand dollars, and kept Central College from having a 
chair endowed. 

The other cause of anxiety and grief was the want of suc- 
cess in the frontier department of mission work. In my re- 
port to the Board of Missions at its annual meeting in June, 
1903, I pointed out the losses in membership in the Western 
conferences from 1899 to 1903. A comparison of the figures 
of the self-supporting conferences showed that in the first two 
years of the quadrennium the losses had been heavy, probably 
resulting from inaccuracies in the Year Book; but neverthe- 
less there was a considerable decrease in membership. 

I had for years opposed the action of the Board in doling 
out small appropriations to many places, which caused me to 
say in my report : "Ever since my connection with this Board 
of Missions I have grieved at our want of success in our 
frontier missions, and have stoutly protested against the pol- 

239 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

icy of dribbling out appropriations to unsuccessful missions. 
Far better let them be without appropriations, and give others 
enough to employ efficient laborers and keeps them until suc- 
cess is assured. If the objection is urged that to wholly 
neglect such will eventuate in their death, the answer is, they 
are dying with the little they now receive. Better support 
half of our missions in a way to make them self-support- 
ing, than to keep all so feebly that they are constantly 
decreasing, many of theai to die in the near future, if we may 
judge the future from the past. Had we abandoned about 
half a dozen of these unsuccessful mission fields six years 
ago, and operated missions in such places as Oklahoma, Man- 
itoba, and Alberta, where many of our people have gone and 
are going, we would no doubt be rejoicing over our success in 
these places, instead of lamenting our failures where we have 
been working." 

The death of Mr. Hazzard in July, 1902, made it im- 
portant to send some white missionaries to Africa, and I spent 
some time writing and visiting persons whom it was thought 
might go. In March, 1903, Eev. A. F. Stoltz, of Ontario, and 
his wife, were appointed by the joint action of both the parent 
Board's executive committee and the Woman's Missionary 
Association, he to be the superintendent of the Board's mis- 
sions, and she to work for the Woman's Missionary Associa- 
tion. Mr. Wilberforce had looked after businesss matters 
somewhat, and had done some repairing on Phillips Chapel, 
but his chieftaincy had kept him so busy that he could not do 
all that was necessary. 

One of our boatmen in Africa, by the name of Alfred, a 
conscientious, honest heathen, after he had professed religion 
for some time once came to me to confess that he had done 
wrong, saying : "Massa, I feel bad for that ting I do," telling 
of a blunder he had made. "I feel bad too much. I feel all 
the same like one big, big cockroach run up my back." Cock- 
roaches are numerous there, and often run over one when 
asleep, and to naked negroes their running up the back pro- 

240 




MARTYR MP:MORIAL CHURCH 



In the Gospel Ministry 

duces very unpleasant sensations. This same Alfred, just 
after we had landed one evening, after a hard day's rowing, in 
answer to my saying to the boatmen, "You did well, boys/* 
replied. "Yes, Massa, we tried hard to please you, but we 
ought to; you come far, and you give money, and you sick 
plenty for we people, to tell us of God and heaven, and we 
ought to be good." In less than a year after that he died, 
and no doubt went to the saints* rest in heaven. 



241 



CHAPTER LIIL 

1902-03 — Gave a Bible to a Mohammedan — A Rooster for Missions — 
A Native's Contribution — Neither Poverty nor Riches. 

As nothing of a special character occurred in this year, I 
wish here to relate several incidents which have come under 
my observation, and which contain good suggestions. 

The first is the conduct of a Mohammedan head man who 
visited Shenge occasionally, and with whom Mr. Gomer and 
I had pleasant and profitable interviews. The last time I 
saw him was on the veranda of the mission house at Shenge, 
when Mr. Gomer gave him an Arabic Bible. The American 
Bible Society had made us a grant of Bibles and Testaments, 
and among them were a few Arabic Bibles, for distribution 
among the Mohammedans. This man was cleanly dressed 
in Mohammedan costume, and had the reputation of keeping 
the town over which he presided the cleanest of any in that 
country. He was much inclined to learn the real object of 
our mission, and had asked for a Bible that he could read. 
When he received that Bible he arose and put a cloth he had 
on the floor, and the Bible on it; then he reverently kneeled 
down and opened the book, having first wiped his fingers 
clean so that the perspiration on them would not soil its 
leaves. He then said that he would now have to keep himself 
clean and not lust after women or do anything bad when he 
read that book. In the meantime he lifted his eyes to heaven 
in a devotional manner, after which he arose from his knees, 
wrapped up the book carefully in the cloth he had put under 
it, bade us good-by, and left highly pleased to get a Bible, 
which no doubt he read carefully. 

A rather amusing, and in a way impressive affair, occurred 
nt a conference held in Illinois some years ago. A preacher 

242 



In the Gospel Ministry 

had found" it difficult to get his full assessment of money for 
missions, and finally told the people he would take produce, 
or any thing they could give, if they had not the money. 
They being farmers, some gave farm products, which he sold, 
putting the money into this fund. On his way to conference 
he stopped with a family who told him they had no money, 
or anything else that they could spare except a rooster. 
He accepted that gift, and brought the rooster to the con- 
ference, and when called on to make his report, said that he 
had collected so much money for missions, and had a rooster 
to turn over to the missionary treasurer. He was then told 
by the bishop to sell the fowl and give the money; so he an- 
nounced that when conference adjourned at noon he would 
auction off that chicken to the highest bidder. This he did, 
and secured a good price for it, adding the money to his re- 
port. 

Soon after the organization of our first church at Shenge, 
in Africa, we concluded to hold a missionary meeting to 
enlist as many as possible in the missionary enterprise. We 
appointed the meeting for Saturday evening, and told the 
people that they should come prepared to give what they 
could. Among the donors was a very poor woman, who at 
noon on that day came to the mission house bringing a nice 
young rooster, which she said was all she had, and asked us 
to buy it and give her the money. We gave her twenty-five 
cents, about five cents more than the fowl was worth, and she 
went away happy. She was at the meeting that night looking 
pleased, and when the collection was taken put in all she got 
for her fowl. I know people who do deny themselves of some 
things, such as coffee, tea, sugar, and other gratifications, to 
be able to give to God's cause, especially to missions. I could 
tell of men and women who had old clothes made over and 
mended to save the money that new clothes would have cost, 
that they might give to missions. Put these things beside 
the Savior's words to Peter, when he said to him, "Lo, we 
have left all and followed thee," or when he said, "Verily, I 

243 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

say unto you, there is no man hath left houses, or parents, 
or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's 
sake, who will not receive manifold more in this present 
time, and in the world to come life everlasting." Giving up 
this world for Christ's sake is, after all, the certain way to 
possess and enjoy it. Mark the words, "They shall receive 
manifold more in this present time," that is, get back in 
blessings from God more than they gave. "It is more blessed 
to give than to receive." 

Having a native carpenter in Africa to do some work, he 
walked a quarter of a mile to tell me he wished one of the 
laborers to bring him a board which was a quarter of a mile 
from where he worked in the other direction. He was told to 
go and get it himself, when he replied that that was common 
laborers' work. As the same man had been employed as a 
laborer before, he was at once dismissed as carpenter and 
hired as laborer, whereupon he brought the board. Then he 
was made carpenter again to go on and finish the work he had 
commenced. 

Twice in my life I have declined opportunities for becom- 
ing rich because the good Spirit impressed me that it would 
interfere with my work of going to Africa, and might not be 
a blessing to me. I was offered a farm, now a part of West 
Dayton, by its owners, and urged to buy it. Another man 
bought it, and it made him quite rich. At another time I was 
offered, and seriously thought of buying, twenty acres of land 
n'ow in Dayton at $200 an acre, which was made to net $1,000 
an acre soon after. The consideration of this opportunity 
caused me a sleepless night, when it was deeply impressed on 
me that I ought not make such a purchase. God in his good- 
ness and wisdom has given me neither riches nor poverty. I 
have had and still have a competency which was best for me, 
my family, and God's cause. 



244 



CHAPTER LIV. 

1903-04 — Trouble and Sickness — African Incidents — The Converted 
Deck-hand — Won the Debate. 

This y ear was one of great mental and physical suffering 
at times, and of great enjoyment at other times. The con- 
tention between the majority and minority members of the 
Publishing House Board caused me deep solicitude, and gave 
me some extra and unpleasant work. This quarrel affected 
the whole Church and militated against its success. But for 
the fact that that church is made up mostly of substantial 
Christians who greatly love her principles and are willing 
to suffer much for them, this controversy would have torn it 
to pieces. 

My physical suffering was caused by an attack of sickness 
during the month of March, 1904, which at times seemed to 
threaten my life. 

In contrast to these sufferings were months of remark- 
ably good health, when it was a delight to work. Then the 
more than usual prosperity of the African missions, as car- 
ried on by the United Brethren churches was a source of re- 
joicing. United Brethren missions in Africa have landed 
many scores of souls in heaven, and helped hundreds to a 
better life on earth. Because of these things we have cause 
to rejoice, thank God, and take courage. 

Among the most successful missionaries we ever employed 
in Africa was a colored layman, Mr. G-omer. Before he be- 
came a Christian he was a wicked, ignorant sailor, on Lake 
Michigan. One night passing a church in Chicago, he heard 
beautiful music and was led to enter. While there the Spirit 
of God opened his blind eyes, and helped him submit to 

245 



Fifty- five Years of Active Life 

Christ. He said, when examined as to his fitness for mission 
work, "I believe that I can make the heathen in Africa see 
how I was saved, and thereby lead them to accept Christ." 
He was sent to Africa and made his statements true. For 
twenty years he did successfully lead many to Christ by his 
life and teachings. 

A native of Africa was coming to the United States as a 
sailor on a sailing vessel. When off of Cape Hatteras in April 
we experienced a snow squall, and the. large flakes of snow 
bit his fingers a good deal with cold while he was at work. 
He rubbed his hands briskly, and said, "Dem big, white mos- 
quito ; he bite too much." 

Mr. Wilberforce had a servant boy who was a little dull 
and did not like to wash in the morning. He was on a row- 
boat with us, going up a river in Africa, when we anchored 
during the night for sleep. At dawn of day we aroused our 
boatmen, and they all washed except the boy. He was quite 
at the end of the boat, which the boatmen tipped suddenly, 
and pitched the lad into the water. Then they all laughed 
heartily and said, "Ah, Mr. Wilberforce's boy get one good 
wash that time." 

Children in Africa are much averse to wearing clothes, 
having gone naked always. We could not allow them -to at- 
tend school in a nude state, and hence we furnished gowns 
to those who came to both day and Sunday schools. They 
would throw them away as soon as school was out, and come 
naked next time, so we adopted the plan of keeping a box of 
clothes at the school, and would put clothes on them while 
they were there, then take them off and send them away 
naked, thus keeping their clothes for the next time. 

One of the natives, describing the order of creation said, 
"God made white man early in the morning, which give him 
plenty time to teach him many things," which accounted for 
his knowing so much. "Next day he make Mohammedan, 
and told him a good many things ; last he made the Sherbro 
man, and then sun go down and he could only take time to 

246 



In the Gospel Ministry 

show him a few things, such as to make salt, country cloth, 
and a few other things." That was the reason they knew so 
little. 

I went to hold a meeting in a new country place in the 
Miami Conference over thirty years ago, the pastor being 
called away. The pastor had written to me to stop with a 
certain brother living near the church, which I did, getting 
there Saturday evening. The small house was nicely white- 
washed, the yard clean, and all looked neat and comfortable. 
Xext morning at breakfast my host, a man of about sixty, 
said he must hurry off to sweep the church and get ready for 
Sunday school at nine o'clock. I went later, and found that 
the man was superintendent of the school and class-leader, 
and was indeed the foremost member of that church. I went 
to another place for dinner, and there the following was told 
me respecting this gentleman. He had been very wicked up 
to about forty years of age, when he became a Christian. He 
had been a deckhand on a steamboat on the Ohio Eiver, and 
would come home drunk and abuse his wife so that at times 
she had to flee to the neighbors for protection. An infidel 
moved into that neighborhood, and had challenged every 
preacher that had come there to debate with him on the sub- 
ject of Christianity. This brother finally got tired hearing 
these challenges to debate the question as to whether there 
was a reality in the religion of Christ, and told the infidel 
that he would debate with him. To this the infidel agreed. 
The Christian was to make the first address, and he would 
reply. They met on a week night in the church; the house 
was packed. The infidel brought books, and paper and pencil 
to take notes. The old Christian took his place in front of 
the pulpit and said, "Friends and neighbors, you have known 
me for twenty years; ten of these I was a drunkard, and 
fought and swore, and as you know, abused my family, and 
was a terror to all the neighborhood at times. Then, at a 
meeting held in this house, I bowed at this altar and God 
saved me. I at once left my wicked associates, quit getting 

247 



Fifty-jive Years of Active Life 

drunk, ceased to swear and fight, and I have lived differently 
ever since. I then lived in a tumble-down cabin that was not 
my own, and poorly provided for my family. I now own and 
have paid for forty acres of ground, we have a comfortable 
home, and wife and I live happily, and all this because I be- 
came a Christian; and now I leave you to judge whether 
there is any reality in the religion of Christ." After making 
these statements, which occupied twenty minutes, he sat 
down. 

The infidel sat there with pencil and paper in his hands, 
and eyes and ears wide open, but not a word had he written. 
The old brother quitting so unexpectedly almost took his 
breath, but he arose after a little while, and clearing his throat 
said he had come there to debate, and to show that there was 
nothing in what people called religion, but his opponent had 
said nothing he could reply to. Then he again cleared his 
throat and stood awhile, not knowing what to do, when one of 
the wickedest men in the house called out, "Hurrah for Father 
W." Others joined him in cheering the old saint, and the 
whole congregation left the house in a titter. That old man's 
argument was of the unanswerable kind. His changed life 
showed that religion is good. Holy living is an argument 
that infidelity can't gainsay ; has never yet been able to meet, 
and never will. The world needs good living quite as much 
as it needs good preaching. Living epistles, known and read 
of all men, often are more effective than the printed Bible. 



248 



CHAPTER LV. 

190-4-05 — Grieved — Saddening Events — Retires from the Missionary 
Secretaryship — Reunites with Miami Conference. 

As I entered upon my fifty-fifth year of ministerial work, 
there were circumstances existing that were perplexing. I 
will quote from a letter published in November, 1904: "I 
came from the Liberal to the Radical United Brethren 
Church in good faith, expecting to work for its success as 
long as I had strength. In the providence of God a place 
has been given me which has enabled me to pursue the line 
of work to which I had consecrated my life, and in filling 
the place given me I have been happy, and measurably suc- 
cessful. My relations to the ministry and laity of the church 
have been pleasant, except the little friction with a few 
growing out of the disagreement of the Publishing Board. 
For a time I tried hard to be neutral on that matter, but, 
being right here in the printing establishment, and both 
sides coming to my office for counsel, I was reluctantly drawn 
into taking sides, sometimes with the one, and at times with 
the other side. The methods pursued were not as I felt 
they should have been, which made me oppose them. The 
matter has gone on from bad to worse, until the contention 
between the parties has become a disgrace to Christianity. 
More than the death of near and dear friends, this church 
trouble has been to me the most grievous burden of my life. 
Three times, once in Africa, another time in Germany, and at 
one time in the mission room here in Huntington, I felt so 
heartbroken over mishaps which had befallen our Zion that I 
feared they would kill me; and I still believe they would, 
had not my kind Father in heaven removed these burdens in 
answer to prayer." 

249 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

Another sad and discouraging occurrence that took place 
this year was the discreditable reports concerning the atti- 
tude of Mr. Wilberforce. Eumors had reached the Mission 
Board that Eev. D. F. Wilberforce had been guilty of prac- 
tices not in accord with Christianity. It was sad to think 
that Mr. Wilberforce, after acquitting himself so nobly for 
about thirty years, as a student, a teacher, a preacher, a 
diplomat, a missionary, and an African chief, should bring 
dishonor upon the cause of Christ. Subsequent developments 
in the case of Mr. Wilberforce fully exonerated him from the 
charge that he had become a cannibal. After a most de- 
termined effort to convict him of that crime before the high- 
est court in Sierra Leone, the jury that sat in the case unani- 
mously acquitted him. He had adhered to and advocated 
Christianity all the time. His becoming a chief may have led 
him to do some questionable things, and the combined pow- 
ers of Mohammedanism, poroism, and heathenism, inspired 
by Satan, put forth their best efforts to destroy him and 
Christianity in that part of Africa. It is not too much to 
hope that Jesus Christ, who forgave St. Peter, and afterward 
helped him to preach such a wonderful sermon that three 
thousand were added to the church in one day, may yet use 
Mr. Wilberforce to lead thousands from heathenism to Chris- 
tianity. 

Aside from these saddening experiences, my work during 
this last year of my active labors, was pleasant, and reason- 
ably successful. My relation to the Board of Missions of the 
Badical United Brethren Church ceased the first of June, 
1905. In my valedictory, in the Missionary Monthly, I said: 

"We have edited the first eight pages of this magazine since 
July, 1897. The secretary of the Woman's Missionary Asso- 
ciation has edited the other eight pages. The Parent Board 
and the Woman's Missionary Association, in publishing this 
paper, and working conjointly in Africa, have achieved success 
in these departments of labor which otherwise could not have 
been accomplished. 

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In the Gospel Ministry 

"During the eight years we have served as secretary of the 
Parent Board our relations to the officers and employees of 
the printing establishment have been agreeable, and we retire 
from our work with the kindest of feelings toward all, leav- 
ing the Missionary Society which we have served in good con- 
dition financially. 

"We take pleasure in introducing to our readers Eev. J. 
Howe, our successor, and bespeak for him the hearty 
cooperation of all the friends of missions. Mr. Howe, no 
doubt, will ably edit his part of this magazine, and faithfully 
do the work to which he is called as secretary. 

"When, in December, 1895, -we withdrew from the Liberal 
and joined the Eadical wing of the United Brethren Church, 
we felt that to be the right thing for us to do, for various 
reasons, especially as that opened the way to continue to la- 
bor for the cause of missions in Africa, to which work we had 
given a large portion of forty years before. Fifty years ago 
we were in Africa, and in thought and sympathy we have 
been there ever since, and there in person at twelve different 
times. 

"In view of the bitter controversy among the leaders of our 
church, and the seeming impossibility of their being recon- 
ciled, we now feel it will be right, and it may become our 
duty, to withdraw from it, etc." 

The following resolution was adopted by a rising vote by 
the Board of Missions in 1905 : 

"In consideration of the fact that the infirmities of old age 
compel Dr. D. K. Flickinger to retire from active service with 
our missionary work, we wish hereby to express our apprecia- 
tion of his valuable labors in the past, and we shall also pray 
that he may yet live to give us his counsel, and that a kind 
providence may give him a happy and peaceful old age, and a 
triumphant entrance into everlasting life." 

I close with the statement that during the time I was a 
member of the Eadical United Brethren Church my member- 
ship was in the Scioto Annual Conference. In October, 1904, 

251 



Fifty-jive Years of Active Life 

I took a transfer and letter from the class to which I belonged 
in that conference, and in December, 1905, I joined the First 
United Brethren Church in Indianapolis, Ind. In August, 
1906, I was received into the Miami Annual Conference, to 
which I had belonged for years. During the last two years I 
have had no regular work, but have preached and lectured on 
missions about once a month. Old age and new infirmities 
give me good reasons for not attempting much public speak- 
ing, though I love it dearly. I have spent much time in read- 
ing the Bible and meditating upon its wonderful teachings. 
Truly, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light nnto 
my path." 



252 



CHAPTER LVI. 

1905-07 — Reflex Influence of Foreign Missions — A Difficult Field — 
Results — A Glorious Future. 

Many thousands have been saved to Christ and our Church 
in the United States because of missions, during the last 
fifty years. Money has never been more wisely expended than 
it has been in this work, nor can it be. Our missionaries in 
this country have received as many into the Church as our 
entire membership is now, I believe. The self-supporting 
churches have also increased much in numbers and efficiency 
because of the missionary spirit awakened among them dur- 
ing the last half century. Our magnificent printing estab- 
lishment in Dayton, Ohio, Union Biblical Seminary, our 
colleges, Sabbath schools, and other departments of the 
Church, have been greatly helped by these missions. 

In Porto Rico, China, Japan, and Africa, abundant suc- 
cess has been achieved in proportion to the labor and money 
expended. I am certain that our success in the part of Africa 
we are in is greater than that of any other church there, in' 
proportion to the money expended, and labor done. There is 
good reason for believing the same is true of most of our other 
foreign missions, but not being acquainted with them as I 
am with the African mission, I cannot speak of them so posi- 
tively. 

Western Africa, especially Sierra Leone and the country 
adjacent to it, because of the unheal thfulness of its climate 
and the deep degradation of its people, has been one of the 
most difficult mission fields in the world. The Church of 
England, in a book entitled, "Missionary Records," and the 
Wesleyans of Great Britain, in Fox's history of their missions, 
show that scores of lives were sacrificed, and multiplied thou- 

253 



Fifty -five Years of Active Life 

sands of dollars expended, just to commence their missions in 
Africa. Mendi mission also buried a number of its mission- 
aries and spent over half a million of dollars, before that 
mission was given to us. Our sacrifices of life and money are 
very small, even counting the sad loss of the eight white 
missionaries who were cruelly massacred in 1898, in com- 
parison with what other churches have endured. 

And now what have the churches of Great Britain and the 
United States to show for the hundreds of lives and millions 
of dollars given to Christianize Africa ? 

If those who doubt the wisdom of sending missionaries to 
heathen lands could see that part of Africa in which our 
missions are located, and ride on the railroad one hundred 
and fifty miles inland from Freetown, through half a dozen 
towns in which we have mission stations, and note what has 
been done in these and more than a score of other places 
where missionaries teach school and preach the gospel, they 
would forever dismiss all doubts as to whether missionaries 
ought to go there. That country, so cursed with cannibalism, 
polygamy, witchcraft, and devil worship, has changed much 
for the better in fifty years. AH honor to the noble men and 
women now there doing much to pull down the strongholds of 
Satan and build up the kingdom of God ! Greater victories 
ought and will be achieved in the future than in the past, 
in the department of mission work at home and abroad, by us 
as a church, if we do our duty. The Captain of our salvation 
"must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet," He 
said, when upon earth, "He that believeth on me, the works 
that I do shall ye do also ; and greater works than these shall 
he do, because I go unto my Father." Greater works were 
done on the day of Pentecost, and by the apostles afterward, 
in inducing the unsaved to accept Christ as their Savior, than 
he did while he tabernacled in the flesh. 

Apostolic zeal for God's cause, and willingness to spend 
and be spent in winning this world to Christ, will enable the 
Church of to-day to do greater work than he did in inducing 

254 



In the Gospel Ministry 

men to accept that salvation proffered in the gospel. How 
willingly, cheerfully, and hopefully Christians ought to heed 
the call : 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, 

Ye soldiers of the cross; 
Lift high his royal banner, 

It must not suffer loss; 
From victory unto victory 

His army he shall lead, 
Till every foe is vanquished 

And Christ is Lord indeed. 



255 



CHAPTER LVIL 

Random Recollections — Numerous Observations — Bits of Experience 
— Interesting Events — Amusing Incidents. 

Many years ago, in company with Bishop Edwards, I was 
waiting in the Indianapolis depot for a train, when a drunken 
man began to make himself a little too conspicuous. A police- 
man took hold of him, and pushed him along to the other 
end of the depot to put him out. He evidently hurried him 
more than was agreeable, and just as the policeman got him 
to where he was to step out of the depot, he suddenly turned 
and said, "Say, mister, is this your drunk or is it mine ?" 

The Africans said of me that I was a little man with a big 
heart, and that I had eyes on both sides of my head, and could 
see both ways at the same time. 

An African in Freetown with monkeys to sell was asked 
the price of one. He said his first price was three shillings, 
but his second price was two shillings. When asked what the 
third price was, he replied he had not fixed that yet, but would 
if he could not get either of the others. 

I came from Freetown to New York on a sail vessel. The 
voyage had been rough and tedious, and while at the table 
taking our last dinner together, being inside of Sandy Hook, 
and all feeling glad, the captain told us this incident. On a 
large ship with a crew of twenty, upon which he was once a 
sailor, the cook died. That is a great calamity at sea, as it 
is very difficult to make a cook out of an ordinary sailor. The 
captain of the ship selected a man who he thought would 
do, and to make it easy on him, ordered that the first man 
who complained of the cooking would have to take his place. 

256 



In the Gospel Ministry 

The cook became very tired of his work in a couple of days, 
and as no one had complained, he resolved he would give them 
something to complain of, so he put a quantity of red pepper 
into the biscuits he made. When the men came to eat, one of 
them broke open a biscuit, put butter on it, and took a large 
mouthful, which he rolled about in his mouth a moment and 
then cried out, "0 cook, what did you put in these biscuits ?" 
Just then he remembered the captain's orders, and he added 
quickly, "But they are good; very good." He swallowed the 
hot dose with tears in his eyes, glad that he bethought himself 
just in time to save himself from being made a cook. 

At a steamboat landing on the Ohio Eiver in 1842, on a 
trip between Pittsburg and Cincinnati, I saw, close to the 
wharf, a sick woman on a straw tick; three children were 
with her. The passengers all looked at the sad spectacle, and 
quite a number said, "What a pity"; but none offered help. 
Presently a quiet young man came to the scene. After look- 
ing at the woman and children a moment, without saying a 
word he pressed his way through the crowd and put a silver 
dollar into her hand, not so much as waiting to receive her 
thanks for the gift. The act led others to give her money, 
and in all she received about ten dollars, which acted like 
medicine upon her, and she was soon removed to a house near 
by and properly cared for. Actions speak louder than words. 

Once when in Brown, Shipley & Company's bank, in New 
York City, I had to write my name three times to get a letter 
of credit which enabled me to draw money in England, Ger- 
many and Africa. I was very tired, on account of a long walk, 
and writing my name with a stub pen, my heavy handwriting 
looked blacker than usual. The cashier looked at my writing 
a moment and then remarked, "That will do to worship, for 
there is nothing like it on earth or in heaven/' 

I spent a night with a German in 1852, who at the break- 
fast table said to his sons, "Poys, we must begin to fix to pre- 
pare to get ready to commence to butcher our hogs." 

257 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

I was on a jury about sixty years ago, hearing a case in 
court. We were put into the jury room at five o'clock in the 
evening, and by six eleven of us had agreed as to what the 
verdict ought to be, but the twelfth man kept us there till six 
the next morning, when he agreed to the verdict. It J s awful 
when eleven contrary men hold out against one man a whole 
night, and finally persuade him to agree with them. 

It is a very common thing in Africa for laborers, when 
leaving an employer, to ask for a recommendation. A man 
who worked for one of our missionaries left without any, but 
in a few days asked for one. Being unworthy, he was told by 
the missionary that he did not wish to give one. The native 
persisted, and the missionary wrote as follows: "This man 
worked for me, and was dismissed for laziness, stealing, and 
lying." 

When in Oregon I met a group of school children in a 
lonely woods, clapping their hands and singing. On inquir- 
ing as to the meaning of their conduct, the man with me said 
that in so large a forest there were congers, a species of pan- 
thers, which sometimes would steal upon persons and attack 
them. Making a noise kept them away, and children were 
safe when singing and clapping their hands. 

During the temperance praying crusade my mother, all 
alone, visited the only saloonkeeper in the village near which 
she lived, and told him it was wrong to be making drunkards. 
The only reason she did not pray was that the crowd she 
found there all left, leaving the proprietor alone, and she felt 
that prayer had better be omitted. 

I once overtook a crowd of girls on their way to church 
barefooted. Just before reaching the church they put on 
their shoes, which they had carried. On coming out after 
the meeting they took off their shoes and walked home bare- 
foot to save sole leather, and probably for comfort. This 
was not in Africa. 

258 



Iii the Gospel Ministry 

Years ago I heard a devout Christian read part of a chap- 
ter of the Bible at family worship, which he called, "The first 
chapter of the Gentiles." On another similar occasion he 
read what he called "the fifth chapter of Pant's Epistle to the 
Acts of the Apostles." 

Once at the close of an annual conference one Sunday night 
in August, when everybody was tired and sleepy, the bishop 

spoke a few parting words, and then said : "Brother K 

will sing the benediction, and Brother B will pro- 
nounce the doxology." He wondered why the people laughed, 
and never realized the mistake he had made until told of it 
after the dismissal. 

A German who was warm in his first love for his church, 
told a neighbor, "We are going to have a great meeting at our 
church. The bischoff, siding alder, circus preacher, and ex- 
hausters are all to be there, and we will have a powerful time." 
His words were as badly mixed as those of another German 
whom I visited over sixty. years ago to buy hogs from. In re- 
ply to my inquiry he said : "I did talk of selling them, but I 
have not very much hogs, and many corns to feed them with, 
and I changed my tick-tacks, and now I can't sell hogs unless 
my corns go with them. They must all go together, or stay 
together, and this is my last delision on that matter. 

Once I went to Kent, twenty miles from Shenge, to get 
carpenters to help build the mission residence at Botifunk. 
While waiting for a man to come home, I happened to look 
at the ceiling of the house. The joists of the second floor 
were about a foot wide and quite smooth. On one was writ- 
ten the date of marriage, on another dates of birth of several 
children, on another the time of the death of a child. The 
marking was nicely done with paint and a complete family 
record was kept on the sides of three joists. 

A diminutive and much hunch-backed man called at the 
ticket-office in Dayton, Ohio, and asked the agent, "Can you 

259 



Fifty-five Years of Active Life 

send me straight through to Indianapolis ?" The agent looked 
at him a moment and said, "I will sell you a ticket that will 
be sure to take you to Indianapolis, but I can't promise you 
that you will be any straighter then than now/* It was a 
timely rebuke, for he had strutted about quite lordly, and it 
took a ton of conceit out of him. 

Coming from Africa once on a sail vessel, I saw a fine ex- 
hibition of earnestness. On board were a number of mon- 
keys, and among them a large dog monkey, which was fas- 
tened with a chain about four feet long, which he rattled 
while taking exercise. The cook had given him his dinner, 
and a couple of small monkeys were trying to steal it from 
him, one finally getting a piece of it beyond his reach. Just 
then the long tail of the other small monkey swung around 
within reach of the dog monkey, and he grabbed it and drew 
that little fellow up to him. Seizing him with both his paws 
he threw him at the other small monkey, about eight feet 
away, eating what he had stolen, and knocked him topsy- 
turvey, hurting both of them so as to make them cry. They 
never again attempted to steal from that dog monkey, nor did 
they play with him any more, as they had done before. On 
another occasion, and also on a sailing vessel, there was a 
monkey. The captain was shaving one morning, and while 
his face was all lathered over he was called out of his room 
by the mate. Thereupon the monkey seized the brush and 
lathered his face completely, and took the razor to proceed to 
scrape it, as he had seen the captain do. But he cut both his 
nose and hand, and came out of the cabin on three feet, 
holding the bleeding hand to his nose and crying most pit- 
eously. 

Crossing over from Liverpool to ISTew York on a steamer, 
as I promenaded for exercise I observed an Irishman sitting 
on the deck for second-class passengers several hours every 
day peeling potatoes. As I desired a little fun I asked him 
what he thought of the doctrine that we would follow the 

260 



In the Gospel Ministry 

same business in heaven that we did on earth. He promptly 
replied, "If the good Mon in heaven wonts me to pale 
potatoes, all he has to do is to furnish them, an' I will 
pale them." 

Leaving him I met two of the stewardesses, and asked them 
the same question. They replied that no ocean steward would 
ever get to heaven. They said : "We were just now consult- 
ing how to get through another night with a woman who kept 
us awake all last night, and we had to say cuss words to her, 
and now she is carrying on in such a way that we will have 
to act real wicked to get her to be quiet. We will never get 
to heaven, and if we did, we would not want to be stewards 
there, for we are only stewards here because we have no better 
way of making a living ; but how wicked we are getting !" I 
told them they ought not to be wicked, but they said that they 
had such hysterical and foolish women to wait on that they 
must say cuss words to quiet them sometimes. 



261 



30 190b 



/ 



